Tonight’s game was filled with “here we go again” moments. The Orioles scratched an injured player from the lineup before the first pitch, the opponent took an early lead on a home run, and the offense absolutely refused to produce against a left-handed pitcher. Baltimore appeared well on its way to a fifth consecutive loss against the Yankees, but finally some Orioles Magic intervened.
Adley Rutschman broke up a no-hit bid in the bottom of the seventh, and Coby Mayo launched a go-ahead three-run homer. Rico Garcia shutdown the heart of the Yankees order in the eighth, and the Orioles used a successful challenge to secure a 3-2 win at Camden Yards.
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Before the fireworks, Brandon Young did his part to keep the Orioles in the game. The 27-year-old held the best offense in the American League to two runs over 5.1 innings. Young retired Jazz Chisholm Jr to dance out of trouble in the first, and he struck out Ryan McMahon and Spencer Jones during a clean second.
The damage came in the third after a one-out walk to Trent Grisham. Young fell behind in the count 3-1 before catching a little too much of the zone with a sinker. Ben Rice took the ball the other way and sent it over the Budweiser advertisement on the left-field wall.
Things could have spiraled after the big blast, but the Orioles buckled down. Tyler O’Neill robbed Aaron Judge with a diving catch in left field, and Young overcame a two-out walk by retiring Chisholm for the second time. Young proceeded to retire the side in order during the fourth and fifth innings
Judge snapped Young’s modest streak by ripping a leadoff double down the left field line. Judge advanced to third on a grounder by Bellinger, and Craig Albernaz went to get his starter with one out in the sixth. Enns struck out Chisholm for a big second out before generating a slow grounder by McMahon. Enns raced to cover first and caught the ball with his bare hand to secure the final out of the inning. Enns returned and worked around a one-out double by Max Schuemann to keep the score at 2-0 after six.
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The Orioles finally broke through in the seventh inning. Adley Rutschman went down and punched a changeup the other way for the Orioles first hit of the game. Weathers appeared visibly frustrated after losing his no-hit bid on a pitcher’s pitch, and the Yankee dugout quickly responded by sending out the pitching coach for a quick chat.
Weathers remained in the game to face Tyler O’Neill, and the right fielder turned in a quality at bat. O’Neill nearly evened the score at two by pulling a change up down the left field line, but the ball soared just foul. At that point, with the way the season has gone, a strikeout felt like a sure thing. Instead, O’Neill locked in and took the ninth pitch of the at bat low for ball four.
The free pass brought the go-ahead run to the plate. The Orioles did not have Coby Mayo in the original starting lineup, but Albernaz inserted Mayo as the DH when Samuel Basallo was scratched with left-knee soreness. Basallo injured his knee during a collision at the plate in Sunday’s 2-1 win over the Athletics. Basallo held the ball when Leody Taveras threw out the potential tying run at the plate, but somehow even a strong defensive play had come back to bite the Orioles.
Or so we thought. Instead, the chain reaction led to a strong dose of Orioles Magic. The Yankees went to the bullpen, and reliever Brent Headrick threw a hanging slider over the heart of the plate. Mayo smashed a ball 389 feet over the left field fence, and suddenly the Orioles held a 3-2 lead.
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Held is the key word, because the Yankees sent up Rice, Judge and Bellinger in the top of the eighth. Rico Garcia has emerged as the leader of the bullpen with Ryan Helsley on the IL. The Orioles deployed Garcia in the eighth to face the heart of the order, and the Honolulu native continued his dream season. Garcia struck out Rice, generated a harmless fly out from Judge, and struck out Bellinger for a shutdown eighth inning.
Anthony Nunez replaced Garcia and provided one more “here we go again” scare. Nunez struck out Chisholm for the first out, but McMahon pulled a towering fly ball to right field. The ball hung in the air for an eternity before O’Neill made a jumping catch at the wall for the second out. Paul Goldschmidt kept the game alive with a single to right, and the Yankees sent José Caballero to pinch run.
Nunez tried and failed to pickoff Caballero, and the speedster broke toward second on an 0-1 fastball. Adley Rutschman threw a dart to second, and Blaze Alexander managed to tag Caballero despite an impressive swim-move slide. The second base umpire initially botched the call, but replay confirmed that Alexander made the game-sealing tag for a 3-2 win.
Young kept the Orioles in it, and Garcia delivered a massive shutdown inning, but Mayo’s big blast stole the show. Give us your pick for the Most Birdland Player of the Day in the comments below!
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