About Last Night: O's Top NY 4-3

By Paul Semendinger

April 29, 2025

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About Last Night:

The Orioles defeated the Yankees 4-3.

Quick Stats:

• Will Warren: 3.1 innings pitched. (Loss)

• Aaron Judge has reached base two or more times in 20 of his last 25 games!

• Tomoyuki Sagano (Balt.) - 5 ip, 0 runs (Win)

• Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge were the only Yankees with 2 hits.

• The Yankees left 9 runners on base

• Ryan Yarbrough: 3.2 innings, 3 hits, 0 runs

  
  

The Game Story:

In the Top of the First, the Yankees loaded the bases (With one out, Aaron Judge singled, Cody Bellinger then walked, an out later, Jazz Chisholm was hit by a pitch.) That brought up Anthony Volpe on his 24th birthday. He grounded out.

In the bottom of the inning, the Orioles looked like they would be wasting no time scoring. Will Warren gave up a leadoff single to Cederic Mullins. Gunnar Henderson then doubled. And then, against the 3, 4, and 5 hitters, Warren got a pop out to left field and then two strikeouts to stand the runners.

The Yankees went down in order in the second. Jasson Dominguez and Oswald Peraza both struck out. But, the Orioles decided to score, though, the "run assist" ( a term I just invented) went to Trent Grisham who misplayed a flyball into an RBI double. (Orioles + Grisham 1, Yankees 0)

In the third inning, Aaron Judge singled (his second hit of the night to raise his batting average to .417!) (Take a look at today's Tuesday Discussion at 10:00 a.m.). Cody Bellinger singled Judge to third. Then Paul Goldschmidt and Jazz Chisholm struck out.

Leadoff walks kill a team. Back-to-back walks to begin an inning are really bad. A home run following back-to-back walks is a disaster. (Orioles 4, Yankees 0)

In the fourth, the Yankees continued not to score. For the Orioles, Ramon Laureano had a one out double. He was then picked off second, but Oswald Peraza, known for his glove, dropped the ball after the tag. That ended Will Warren's night. He lasted only 72 pitches. (That simply isn't good enough.) Ryan Yarbrough came in and got the Yankees out of the inning.

Defense wins games. In the fifth inning, while the Yankees were flashing metal gloves, Cederic Mullins flashed the leather and caught a two-out long blast to center off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt (with a runner on) to rob him of a homer and end the inning. The Orioles also didn't score.

The sixth inning went quietly. Ryan Yarbrough pitched great for the Yankees, finishing up the fourth and covering the fifth and sixth innings.

The Yanks scored a run in the seventh inning. Oswaldo Cabrera had an infield single and went to second on an error. Trent Grisham singled him to third. He then scored on an Aaron Judge groundout. Then, in the bottom of the frame, Ryan Yarbrough pitched yet another scoreless inning! (Orioles 4, Yanks 1)

In the eighth inning, the Yankees scored twice. The highlights were doubles by Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe. Devin Williams pitched a scoreless inning for the Yankees in the 8th. (Orioles 4, Yankees 3)

In the ninth inning, the Yankees... went down in order. Judge and Bellinger both struck out.

Yanks lose.

Yankees Player of the Game:

Ryan Yarbrough - the man saved the bullpen and kept the Yankees in the game.

Better to Forget:

• Trent Grisham - His poor fielding cost the Yankees a run.

• Paul Goldschmidt - Struck out twice with runners on base.

• Will Warren - Lasted only 3.1 innings.

• Oswald Peraza - Dropped a ball after tagging a runner at third causing the runner to be safe.

• The Yankees left 9 runners on base in a one-run game.

My Thoughts:

I have to wonder, if the Yankees cannot get Anthony Volpe to stop swinging from his heels, if his swing can't be fixed, if he's the long term answer at shortstop. I believe 99.999% of Yankees fans are rooting for Volpe. He's easy to root for, but at some point, he needs to hit. The days of Mark Belanger, a great fielding, little-hit shortstop, are long gone. (On the SSTN Podcast, though, EJ Fagan noted that Volpe's OPS+ is 120 for the season. He's actully hitting better than it seems.)

Trent Grisham's game is his glove. The home runs have been a bonus. He played a two-out fly ball in the second inning into an RBI double by taking a terrible route on the ball. Grisham likes to "style" some of his catches, but if one is going to do that, he should also do better on fly balls hit over his head.

The Yankees score a ton of runs, but they also fail, a lot, with runners on base. This is, and has been, a frustrating team to watch.

I am tired of the "May the 4th Be With You"promotions. It was cute the first 45,876 times they mentioned it and did it, but by this point it is so played out that the horse in The Godfather has more life than that promotion. The promotion has been beaten to death. I see the Orioles also have a Star Wars bobble on May 4. Talk about overkill. My goodness. (I've never been a Star Wars fan, so that might explain my feelings on this, but really, even if you love Star Wars, wouldn't use rather have a bobble head of a baseball player playing baseball rather than him having a light saber or whatever it is. And if you're a Star Wars fan, wouldn't you rather have an R2D2 toy than one of a baseball player dressed up as if it is Halloween?)

The Yankees made it interesting, but they fell short.

It was good that Devin Williams got into the game and did well. For him to get good, he'll need to pitch regularly.

The Yankees are 11-12 in games Max Fried doesn't start. It seems that he's carrying the team on the pitching side. That's a concerning number, that says, the Yankees need a starting pitcher.

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Next Up:

The Yankees and the Orioles continue the series tonight at 6:35 p.m. Carlos Rodon takes the ball for the Yankees.