BALTIMORE — The Yankees had a chance to sweep the Orioles on Sunday, but they came up short in a 6-5 loss prior to the All-Star break.
The Yankees, 58-40 (.592), will enter the off days with a second-place record, as Baltimore is now 58-38 (.604). The two foes face off again at Yankee Stadium during the final week of the regular season.
On Sunday, the Yankees had a chance to win late, as Ben Rice gave his team a 5-3 lead with a three-run homer in the ninth. However, an Anthony Volpe fielding error gave Baltimore a run before Alex Verdugo misjudged a flyball and fell to the ground on a Cedric Mullins double to left.
Alex Verdugo miss plays it and the Orioles walk it off. Unreal pic.twitter.com/2iD2UyCcP8
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) July 14, 2024
Verdugo appeared to take a step towards the infield before turning around as the ball flew over his head and eventually fell on the outfield grass. The ball, hit off Clay Holmes, had a catch probability of 99%.
Just like that, the teeter-totter affair ended on a humiliating note for the Yankees.
Prior to all that, Carlos Rodón labored but limited the Orioles on a muggy day in Baltimore.
The lefty only lasted four innings in the sun, as long second and third innings jacked up Rodón’s pitch count. Gunnar Henderson, meanwhile, smoked a hanging slider off the starter in the third inning. The two-run blast, Henderson’s 28th homer of the year, gave the Orioles a 2-1 lead after Trent Grisham gave the Yankees the game’s first run with an RBI single in the second.
Volpe scored on the knock after doubling.
Despite pitching into multiple jams, Rodón didn’t allow any runs after Henderson’s homer. He also totaled four hits, three walks and seven strikeouts.
Rodón’s pedestrian day did see him avoid the early damage that plagued him over his previous five starts. Rodón, well-aware that he was too dependent on his fastball in the opening frames of those games, surrendered 15 first-inning runs over that stretch.
On Sunday, he used just four heaters during a scoreless, 17-pitch first inning that saw him strikeout two.
Of the 98 pitches Rodón threw in the game, 37 were fastballs. The pitch also averaged 97.1 mph, a 1.7-mph increase from his season average.
Rodón also threw 40 sliders, 12 curveballs and nine changeups.
The Yankees tied the game in the fifth when Grisham hit a solo homer off O’s starter, Dean Kremer, who logged 4.2 innings, four hits, two walks and four strikeouts.
However, Baltimore regained the lead when Anthony Santander took Tommy Kahnle on a trip to Eutaw Street in the bottom of the inning. The bases-empty blast traveled 421 feet.
While the Yankees weren’t able to sweep the Orioles, the Bombers failed to win eight straight series and had lost 20 of their last 31 games before the three-game set in Baltimore. They’ll take a series win over a division rival going into the All-Star break, something Aaron Boone described as “good for the soul.”
“That definitely is good for the mental health, frankly,” the manager added before Sunday’s game. “There’s no secret it’s been a rough few weeks for us. As much as we try and stay in that even keel — and I think we do a good job of that — we’re still human and you feel the rough parts of the season. It hurts a little more when you wake up when things aren’t going well.
“The big picture is we’re in a pretty good spot going into the second half. And that’s a result of how we’ve played for the most part to put us in a position that we’re in control of the script now moving forward. In the second half, we got the pen. It’s in our hands.”
