By Derek McAdam
May 1, 2024
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The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles last night by a score of 4-2, dropping to 19-12 on the season, while Baltimore improved to 19-10. Here is a recap of last night’s game.
Quick Stats:
W: Dean Kremer (2-2): 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
S: Jacob Webb (1): 1.1 IP, 3 K
L: Nestor Cortes (1-3): 6 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
The Big Story:
The Yankees were looking to get back on track after being shut out Monday night, and things didn’t get off to the best start. In the bottom of the 2nd, Anthony Santander reached on a double. What made this double very interesting is that it seemed as if Anthony Rizzo was halfway down the right field line when he tried to make the catch, while Juan Soto was very close to him. Neither caught the ball.
Then, Jordan Westburg hit a ground ball to Gleyber Torres, who threw to third base in hopes of getting the out there. Instead, the throw hit Santander and rolled away, allowing Santander to score and give the Orioles a 1-0 lead.
However, in the top of the 3rd, Austin Wells hit his first home run of the season to tie the game at 1-1. This run was also the first of the series that the Yankees had scored.
Things began to fall apart for Cortes during the 4th. With a runner on second and one out, James McCann hit a long double into left field to score a runner and give the Orioles a 2-1 lead. The Orioles then recorded three consecutive singles by Colton Bowser, Gunnar Henderson, and Adley Rutschman, allowing two runs to score during the rally that extended the lead to 4-1.
In the 6th, Juan Soto launched a solo home run that looked as if it landed out of Camden Yards, which cut the lead to 4-2. Aaron Judge then worked a walk to bring Giancarlo Stanton, the tying run, to the plate. However, he grounded into the Yankees’ third double play of the night. The Orioles would hold on to win the game by this final.
Player of the Game: Dean Kremer didn’t have the best command of his pitches, but he was able to get big outs when he needed to, and was very clutch at getting the Yankees to ground into inning-ending double plays.
Notable Performances: Soto and Wells both had a couple of hits last night, with Anthony Volpe having the only other hit for the Yankees. Meanwhile, every hitter for the Orioles had at least one hit last night, with the exception of Ryan Mountcastle. Both bullpens also came in and didn’t allow a run to cross the plate.
Better to Forget: The Yankees’ offense would likely want to forget this one. They were shut down, yet again, by Baltimore’s pitching. And it’s not going to get much easier for them for the rest of this series.
My Take: Since we are now in May, I must point out that the first full calendar month of baseball is officially in the books. It’s amazing how quickly these games have gone by!
Regarding the game, this was another brutal loss for the team. They grounded into three more double plays this game, one of which came from Aaron Judge, who has increased his total this season to 10… and that’s only through April! They didn’t have the opportunities like they did Monday night, but they still had several scoring opportunities and failed to cash in.
While Cortes gave up four runs, he was able to go six innings for the team, which helped save the bullpen. Luke Weaver came on and pitched the final two innings, which pretty much gave the entire bullpen another day off. So, there is a positive to take out of this game.
Hopefully, the Yankees can salvage this series and at least split the four-game set before they head back home. But, they will have to take advantage of guys reaching base, especially today with who the opposing pitcher will be...
What’s Next?: The Yankees and Orioles will be back at it tonight with a 6:35 pm. EST gametime. Luis Gil is set to start for the Yankees, while Corbin Burnes is slated to go for the Orioles.
it is true we have lost 2 games to the Orioles People think the Orioles are very good, yes? well in game one we out hit them and had less strikeouts. really we beat them everyplace but the scoreboard. YES i know the scoreboard is the only place that counts, but basically we played EVEN with the team everyone believes is a GOOD team
game 2 the errors were (as ALWAYS) frustrating. to me the sloppy play is the number one fact in the case for Boone getting the axe!! he grew up in a baseball family with a manager for a father, for crying out loud!!! HOW can he be so indifferent team to having a team constantly f up routin…
... and how 'bout Torres ??! It seems he has trouble throwing the ball to third OR home plate, he bobbles ground balls-- all the time unable to get a hit, sporting a batting avg. barely over .200. If memory serves, I believe he hit a grand slam against the Yankees a number of years ago, when he was fairly new on the club. So Mr. Torres is :"the new Gary Sanchez" , who could not throw or catch nor hit (not cool for a catcher!), but he did thrill the crowd when he went yard (every 25 at bats?)..... Is Mr. Boone so enamored with the home run that he sacrifices defense and timely hitting?
Waiting on Judge to heat up tolerable, however waiting on Stanton is fools gold, but Yankee hierarchy is stubborn to a fault!
Since their 6-0 start, they have gone 13-12. Welcome to last year. Only hope is that Judge wakes up, Cole comes back strong, and Torres learns to field and hit.
They lost 2 tight games. Not end of the world. But, too many fundamental breakdowns to write about today. In tight games the team that makes fewer mistakes usually wins (see last nights Knick's game, as an example), plus they went 0-1 with risp (you read that right) and 0-9 in the two games. The all or nothing approach laid silent for about 2 or 2 1/2 weeks, has come out of hibernation, sans the last 2 games in Milwaukee. Still plenty of time to get back to what we saw in late March and early April. Outfielders not taking control of pop ups, infielders in the wrong position on throws, passed balls, i can go on, but you…