The third straight extra-innings game was not the charm for the Orioles. And on a night when they pitched Aaron Judge well and he was 0-for-3, right-handed closer Félix Bautista made one poor pitch in the last of the ninth.
Two outs from another impressive win, the Orioles did not get them, losing 6-5 in 10 innings to the Yankees. This time there was no extra innings magic.
This created some frustration around Birdland no doubt as O’s fans like to beat the Yankees just about as much as any club and nothing is more frustrating than seeing Judge homer against Baltimore.
The homer in the ninth was his 14th of this season and his eighth in the past nine games. It was his 38th in 91 career games versus O’s pitching.
They could have just walked him, right?
For me, not in that spot. Not with a one-run lead and Anthony Rizzo on deck. Rizzo had three hits in the game already.
And Rizzo is now batting .368/.419/.684 (21-for-57) with 13 runs, two doubles, five homers and 14 RBIs his last 14 games since May 8. Over his past 41 games he is batting .319/.388/.550. He has 12 RBIs his past 10 games.
The mistake for me and Captain Obvious chimed in too, to say the location of the splitter Bautista threw Judge on an 0-2 count was terrible, as it was middle-middle.
Yes, it hurts because Yennier Cano went two innings, throwing 30 pitches and is probably not available tonight. It hurts to lose to the Yankees anytime, especially when the club did a lot right to get into position to win.
The at-bats against Gerrit Cole were solid. Really solid. He allowed five runs over five innings as his ERA went from 2.01 to 2.53. The Orioles have scored 13 runs in their last 19 innings versus Cole, who went 1-2 with a 4.29 ERA last season in three starts against the Orioles.
This year he had allowed two runs or less in nine of his 10 starts, but now has allowed five or more just twice – once to Tampa Bay and once to Baltimore.
Right-hander Kyle Bradish entered this outing with an 0-8 record and 7.91 ERA in 15 career starts versus AL East teams. He had a golden chance to end that run but could not hold a 4-0 lead in the fourth or a 4-1 lead in the fifth. He gave up four runs in five innings, his most since allowing seven April 25 against Boston.
It was a tough night around Birdland and maybe the toughest loss of the year.
But they did gain the 4-0 lead and should have pinned a loss on Cole. Adam Frazier had a huge two-run double in the first and they got solo homers from Cedric Mullins in the third and Gunnar Henderson in the fourth. Six of Mullins’ last nine hits have gone for extra bases, and he is batting .435 (10-for-23) during a six-game hitting streak.
Here is quite the stat: At 21 years, 328 days, Henderson became the youngest Oriole to hit a home run on the road against the Yankees since Eddie Murray (21y, 153d) on July 7, 1977.
Heading into his outing last night, Bautista has not allowed an extra-base hit against his splitter this year in 44 plate appearances, with opponents’ batting .122 and slugging .122 against the pitch. But one that found the middle was very, very hittable for Judge and the O’s lost by one run.
Now they have to get back on the horse tonight against lefty Nestor Cortes, who has a career 1.37 ERA against the Orioles. But in his past four starts this year, his ERA is 7.65 and he has given up four homers in 20 innings with an OPS against of .872.
Do the O’s bounce back tonight?