Late-inning fireworks weren’t enough to ignite a Yankees win against the Orioles with Aaron Judge on the bench.
Still dealing with hand soreness after being plunked a night earlier, Judge sat out of Wednesday’s eventful 7-6 loss in the Bronx, during which the Yankees rallied to force extra innings and hit two Orioles batters with pitches.
Most of the drama occurred after Yankees ace Gerrit Cole departed his long-awaited season debut.
Giancarlo Stanton’s ninth-inning RBI single off Craig Kimbrel tied the game, 5-5, but Baltimore scored two runs against Yankees closer Clay Holmes in the 10th to even this week’s series between AL East heavyweights at one win apiece.
The drama ramped up in the seventh inning, when left-handed reliever Victor Gonzalez drilled lefty-hitting Orioles star Gunnar Henderson in the shoulder with a 94-mph sinker on the first pitch of the at-bat, eliciting cheers from a sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd of 47,155.
Henderson later scored on a Ryan Mountcastle RBI double, putting Baltimore up, 5-1.
The Yankees cut their deficit to 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh when Stanton crushed a three-run home run into Monument Park, earning an even more rapturous ovation. Stanton’s 18th home run of the season traveled 440 feet.
Yankees left-hander Caleb Ferguson then hit lefty-swinging Colton Cowser in the side with a 94-mph fastball on a 1-1 count, prompting a frustrated Cowser to throw down his bat.
Neither Gonzalez nor Ferguson were ejected, but the hit-by-pitches commanded extra attention considering Judge exited Tuesday’s game after being struck in the left hand by a 94-mph fastball from Albert Suárez.
Afterward, Judge said he was “definitely pissed.” Imaging came back clean on Judge’s hand.
Even without Judge, the Yankees kept things interesting Wednesday. Anthony Volpe’s leadoff double in the ninth against Kimbrel set up Stanton’s game-tying hit.
Baltimore answered in the 10th when Cedric Mullins delivered a one-out RBI single, stole third base and scored when catcher Jose Trevino’s throw sailed wide. Holmes has now allowed two runs in three consecutive outings, though one of Wednesday’s was unearned due to the automatic runner scoring.
The Yankees scored one run in the bottom of the 10th on rookie Ben Rice’s sacrifice fly, but they couldn’t scratch a second run across against Dillon Tate.
It all added up to Baltimore playing spoiler on the night Cole made his first MLB start since being diagnosed during spring training with nerve inflammation and edema in his right elbow.
Cole was charged with two earned runs over 4+ innings, during which he allowed three hits and a walk while striking out five.
He departed after allowing a leadoff single to Mullins in the top of the fifth inning in a 1-1 game. The next batter, Ramón Urías, struck a two-run home run off reliever Ron Marinaccio, putting the Orioles up, 3-1.
The 391-foot blast was one of three hits in the inning against Marinaccio, who also surrendered an RBI double to Ryan O’Hearn.
Not fully built up after making three minor-league rehab starts, Cole threw 62 pitches and became sharper as the night progressed. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out three batters in the third inning and two more in the fourth, topping out at 97.5 mph with his fastball.
Baltimore jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Cole in the first inning. Henderson led off with a 109.1-mph grounder that deflected off of second baseman Gleyber Torres’ glove, and O’Hearn drove him in with a two-out RBI double two batters later.
The Yankees tied the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the first when Torres lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left field off Orioles rookie Cade Povich to complete an 11-pitch at-bat.
Povich, the ninth-ranked prospect in the Orioles’ loaded farm system, avoided further damage, limiting the Yankees to one hit and one run over his 4.2 innings despite issuing five walks.
The Yankees and Orioles entered this week’s divisional showdown with the top two records in the American League, the same number of losses and only 1.5 games separating them in the AL East.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the much-hyped series in the Bronx is tied after two games.
The Yankees opened the three-game set with a 4-2 win on Tuesday night behind six shutout innings from starter Nestor Cortes.
Wednesday’s loss cut the Yankees’ (51-25) division lead over the Orioles (48-25) back down to 1.5 games.
The Yankees are now 2-4 against the Orioles, who won three of four in Baltimore during the teams’ first meeting of the season.
Rookie sensation Luis Gil (9-1, 2.03 ERA) is set to start Thursday afternoon’s series finale for the Yankees, while left-hander Cole Irvin (6-3, 3.03 ERA) is slated to pitch for Baltimore.
