It was a real barn burner in New York with the Birds coming out on top
What a game. What a game! There were things to dislike about this game, for sure. Mostly the ineptness of the bullpen, which makes all worry about the future of the season. But there were so many more things to like than hate.
When I think back on this 7-6 extra-innings win over the Yankees, here is what I’ll remember: Cade Povich looked like he wouldn’t last three innings to start, but then he ended up going longer than Gerrit Cole and giving up fewer runs. The maligned Ramón Urías and Cedric Mullins contributed greatly to the win. Urías hit the go-ahead home run in the sixth and Mullins was the hero in the 10th.
The Yankees, who spent their postgame interviews yesterday whining about how the Orioles pitch up and in too often and hurt their little feelings, intentionally threw a ball into Gunnar Henderson’s back. Henderson did not cry about it. He took his base and ended up scoring in a game the Orioles won by one run. And Adley Rutschman nailed the would-be trying run trying to steal second in the bottom of the 10th inning.
This series against the Yankees has not lacked for excitement or drama, and tonight was no exception. Let’s dive in.
Povich allowed just one hit tonight and it was to the very first batter he faced. Anthony Volpe started off the bottom of the first inning with a single, and that was it. But it wasn’t easy, of course. Povich was all over the place and walked five batters in his 4.2 innings. His pitch count was out of control through the first several innings, with 32 pitches in the first inning and a pitch count of nearly 60 after two.
Against Gerrit Cole, the Orioles took an early 1-0 lead on doubles from Gunnar Henderson and Ryan O’Hearn, but Povich gave it right back in the bottom of the first. It could have been worse, though. After Volpe’s single, Povich got an out on a ground ball from Juan Soto. Then he lost all control, walking Giancarlo Stanton and Alex Verdugo to load the bases.
Gleyber Torres hit a long fly ball that brought in the tying run, but the inning ended when umpire Gabe Morales rang up DJ LeMahieu on a pitch out of the strike zone. It was the first of several times in the evening when Morales didn’t do the right thing.
Cole settled in during the second inning, needing just seven pitches to retire the side. Aside from a Gunnar Henderson walk he got through the next few innings unscathed. But then something odd happened. Everyone knew Cole was on a pitch count, but the number I’d seen tossed out was 80-85. After Cedric Mullins singled to start the fifth, manager Aaron Boone pulled Cole at just 62 pitches. This turned out to be a good thing for the Orioles.
Relief pitcher Ron Marinaccio came in to face Ramón Urías and Urías greeted him very rudely. After Mullins stole second, Urías smacked a ball over the left-field fence for a two-run homer. As noted by beat writer Jake Rill, it was a home run in 29/30 ballparks. You know which one would have held it in.
Marinaccio’s troubles continued. Mateo chopped a ball in front of the plate that Marinaccio should have put in his pocket, but he threw it away and allowed Mateo to get to second. He came in to score on another double from O’Hearn.
After issuing two second-inning walks, Povich settled in and started throwing strikes. Starting with a Soto groundout to end the second inning, Povich retired nine batters in a row. With two outs in the fifth inning and a two-run lead, Povich needed just one more out to be in line for his first win. Instead, Povich issued his fifth walk of the night. With the tying run at the plate and Povich approaching 100 pitches, that was all for him. Jacob Webb came on in relief and struck out Stanton to end the inning.
Down 4-1 heading into the seventh, the Yankees opted to throw at Henderson. With the first pitch of the at-bat, Victor González threw a 94 mph pitch into his back. It was clearly intentional payback for the accidental HBP of Aaron Judge yesterday, and it was bush league.
Henderson, who is a stone-cold killer, did not react. Many batters would have glared or taken steps toward the mound or more. Not Henderson. He calmly took first and then later stole second base. Ryan Mountcastle launched a ball to right field. It went over Soto’s head and he bobbled it around out there. Henderson, who had been thrown at for no reason other than the Yankees are crybabies, scored on the play.
The Orioles bullpen struggled and allowed the Yankees to get back into the game. Webb was pretty good, same for Bryan Baker who pitched a scoreless eighth. But Cionel Pérez, Yennier Cano, Craig Kimbrel, and Dillon Tate all had their troubles.
Pérez relieved Webb with two outs in the sixth and walked the first two batters he faced. A couple of the pitches were borderline; Gabe Morales was not good behind the plate tonight. With the bases loaded and two outs, former Oriole Jahmai Jones came on as a pinch hitter. This is a sign of how weak the Yankees bench is. Jones swung at the first pitch and flew out to preserve the lead.
Pérez faced some bad luck in the seventh inning. First Volpe hit a ground ball back up the middle that Henderson and Mateo both kind of just looked at, then Soto hit a ball back towards Pérez that he couldn’t make a quick enough throw on. Brandon Hyde opted to go to Cano then to face Stanton.
At this point in his career, Stanton is a pretty one-dimensional player. That dimension is dingers, and that’s exactly what happened. His 18th home run of the year was a monster 440-foot shot that made the score 5-4 Orioles.
One-run leads are scary and the Orioles had a chance to make it more than that in the top of the ninth. They loaded the bases with just one out, but pinch-hitter Austin Hays struck out. Anthony Santander hit what looked like could be a bases-clearing double but Verdugo made a very nice running catch to end the inning.
That brings us to Craig Kimbrel. Kimbrel has been successful of late, but one-run saves are not his jam. He was facing the top of the order and Stanton struck again. Volpe doubled and then came in to tie the game on Stanton’s second hit. Kimbrel kept anything more from happening, but the save was blown and off we went to extra innings.
After Colton Cowser popped out to start the 10th, Mullins laced the ball to right field for his second hit of the day. Anthony Santander, who was stationed at second base as the Manfred Man, rumbled home with the go-ahead run. Because Mullins is awesome and also because Yankees catcher Jose Trevino can’t throw out runners, Mullins stole third. Trevino threw the ball away and Mullins ran home for the seventh run.
The two-run lead ended up being important as Tate struggled to close things out. Manfred Man for the Yankees, Torres, moved to third on a single from LeMahieu and scored on a sac fly. Oswaldo Cabrera pinch ran and that’s when he made his fatal baserunning blunder, cut down by Rutschman at second trying to steal. He needn’t have even tried as Tate walked the next batter.
But with two outs, it all came down to Jahmai Jones again. Again, he failed. Tate struck him out to end this wild game.
Orioles win, 7-6. The rubber game of the series is tomorrow at 4 p.m with Cole Irvin starting for Baltimore.