Baltimore’s offense secured a seven-run lead, and Keegan Akin eventually extinguished a late rally by the Yankees.
The Orioles could have lost focus after celebrating a postseason berth last night. Instead, Baltimore made a statement with one of their stronger offensive performances in the second half.
The Birds jumped on New York starter Marcus Stroman from the jump and eventually built out a seven-run lead. Zach Eflin struggled with his command, and Matt Bowman made things interesting in the ninth, but the lineup built too large of a lead. All nine players recorded at least one hit, and the Orioles finished 8-for-16 with runners in scoring position. The lovely totals led to a 9-7 victory at Yankee Stadium.
The Orioles started the game with six consecutive singles, and the first three were all aimed at New York’s young shortstop. Gunnar Henderson legged out an infield single hit to Anthony Volpe, Jordan Westburg snuck a base hit beyond a diving Volpe, and Anthony Santander lifted a ball over a leaping Volpe to load the bases.
Colton Cowser elected to give Volpe a break and set his sights on the Yankees’ left fielder. Cowser flied a ball toward the left field corner and Jasson Domínguez overran it. The ball landed without hitting Domínguez’s glove, and the first two runs raced home. Cowser remained at first for the fourth-straight single, but Anthony Santander ran into the first out at third base.
Santander committed a base-running blunder, but Cowser stole second to place another runner in scoring position. Ryan Mountcastle followed with a sharply hit ball up the middle to drive in Baltimore’s third run of the game.
The O’s’ offense didn’t miss a beat after the celebration last night, but Eflin did not have his best stuff this evening. Eflin took the mound after a lengthy top of the first and walked both of New York’s star players. The righty fell behind Austin Wells 2-0 to prompt a meeting on the mound with James McCann.
Fortunately, the pep talk did the trick. Eflin settled down with a perfectly placed cutter for strike one before generating an inning-ending double play.
Eflin holds a strong reputation for throwing strikes, but his command failed him again in the second. He issued a leadoff walk to Giancarlo Stanton and relinquished another free pass after a pair of quick outs. Sadly, he failed to replicate his escape act from the first. Volpe punched a base hit to left field to drive in New York’s first run of the night, but Eflin limited the damage by retiring Gleyber Torres.
Neither team scored in the third, and Baltimore broke things open in the fourth. Ramón Urías smacked a leadoff single to right and took third on a single by Cedric Mullins. Mullins swiped his 31st bag of the season to place a second runner in scoring position, and Henderson delivered his third knock of the night to plate a pair.
The fifth run of the evening chased New York starter Marcus Stroman from the game, but the Orioles didn’t stop there. Westburg went down on strikes for the second out, but Anthony Santander chased Henderson home with a double to right field. Cowser continued to pile on with a double of his own, and the Orioles led 7-1 by the end of the fourth.
Eflin delivered a shutdown inning, and Baltimore tacked on its eighth run in the top of the fifth. Mullins took a two-out walk, stole his 32nd bag of the year, and scored on a single by James McCann.
Baltimore’s starter entered the fifth with a seven-run lead, but an inefficient night prompted early action in the bullpen. Eflin allowed a leadoff single to Anthony Rizzo before picking up a pair of outs. He went after Juan Soto, but the All-Star snuck a 361-foot fly ball over the right-field fence.
Eflin needed one more out to qualify for the win, but Aaron Judge smoked a single up the middle. He issued his fifth walk of the night to Wells, and Brandon Hyde had to make a change.
Jacob Webb entered and allowed a hard hit ball to Stanton, but Henderson knocked it down to prevent a run from scoring. With the bases loaded, Jazz Chisholm popped a harmless fly ball to right field.
Baltimore stretched the lead back to six on a Westburg single in the eighth, and Hyde attempted to close things out with Matt Bowman. Regardless of the score, Bowman verse this Yankee lineup probably represents a mismatch.
Rizzo, Torres, and Soto all singled to score the fourth run of the game, but Bowman only needed a grounder from Judge to secure the victory. Judge had other plans, and his three-run blast trimmed the large lead to only two.
With Seranthony Domínguez warming, Hyde turned to Keegan Akin to face the left-handed Wells. Akin ran the count full before retiring Wells on a fly ball to left, and he ended the game with a pop out from Stanton.
Akin deserves a ton of credit for quickly extinguishing the comeback attempt. The Orioles secured a series victory, and forced the Yankees to wait at least one more night before clinching the AL East.
The Orioles finished with 17 hits and scored all nine runs without needing a long ball.