Yankees Rally to Win Series Over Orioles

The Yankees rallied over the weekend to win the final two games over the Orioles, and I was at the game Sunday with my son Holden and we got to see an exciting come-from-behind victory. Lets get to it. 

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For seven innings on Sunday, my son Holden and I were sitting along the third-base line at Yankee Stadium cursing our misfortune. Well, it was mainly me doing the cursing because that’s who I am.

Each year for Christmas, Holden’s present to me is tickets to a Yankees game and I picked the Sunday morning matinee against Baltimore. We have not had much luck lately when we’ve gone to watch the Yankees in person as they had lost at least the last three games we’ve seen them.

Sunday, they were still trailing 2-1 after Aaron Judge struck out in a big spot with two men on base, and it sure seemed like another loss was coming to extend the Maiorana Curse.

This was the Roku game of the week and it started at 11:35 a.m. For those of you unaware, MLB, in an effort to have a stand-alone national TV game to start the Sunday schedule each week, has been doing this for a few years and it’s called MLB Sunday Leadoff.

It started on the Peacock streaming service in 2022 and then moved to Roku in 2024 and I know many of you could not watch and that sucks, but I’ll say this - you didn’t miss much in the first seven innings because the Yankees looked like they were still sleeping at that early hour.

But things took quite a turn in the eighth inning and when it was over, the Yankees were ahead 4-2 and Devin Williams kept it there in the ninth and they won for the second day in a row to capture the series against the Orioles which at least salvaged a little bit from what had been a mostly brutal week.

Losing three out of four to the Angels and then the first game to Baltimore on Friday had really tightened the AL East race, but thanks to a productive weekend and the Rays, Jays and Red Sox all losing Sunday, the Yankees are 2.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay, four up on Toronto and six ahead of Boston.

I’ll have more on Sunday’s game below, but I just wanted to share a few things about my weekend in Poughkeepsie with Holden, who is a high school music teacher down there. I drove down from my home outside Rochester on Saturday and we went to a very nice steak place for dinner. Afterward we headed over to the Hudson River where we walked the grounds of both the Vanderbilt mansion and the Franklin D. Roosevelt mansion and burial site. Very cool because I love history, and it was fun to step back in time.

At the FDR home, there’s a great display behind the presidential library - huge busts of both FDR and Winston Churchill facing each other, and to the side are two sections from the Berlin wall. Pretty neat.

Of course while we were doing that we were oblivious to the fact that the United States military was kicking some ass, blowing up Iran’s nuclear sites and we didn’t know what happened until we got back to his place, so naturally we watched some of the news coverage.

Sunday morning, Dunkin drinks in hand, we got on the Metro North train at 9:07 and by 10:30 we were pulling up to the Yankee Stadium stop where the rain had just moved through and the temperature was still in the 70s, though that would change within an hour or so. We walked around a little, bought our lunch and ate it in the concourse, and just before the anthem we moved down to our great seats which were about 20 rows up from the field.

Fortunately for us, the game started under cloudy skies so we weren’t getting the full blast of the sun and heat, and by the fifth inning the sun had moved behind us and we were protected by the overhang of the second deck. It was hot, but we expected worse because the forecast called for a high of 94 and it probably topped out at around 86 or so.

After the Yankees’ rallied to win, we hustled to the train and caught one just before 3 p.m., we were back in Poughkeepsie and picking up a pizza by 4:30, I was on the road by 5:15 and home by 9:30.

A quick trip but a fun one, and a victory to boot. Can’t beat that.

June 20: Orioles 5, Yankees 3

➤ A sure-fire sign of how bad things have been going for the Yankees is that they have now lost two straight Max Fried starts, and while he wasn’t great across his six innings, it should have been enough to win the game if not for the offense being putrid.

➤ Fried had a terrible first inning as he had no command, hit two batters with pitches and then gave up a two-run single to Gary friggin’ Sanchez who has batting .171 coming into the game and was was only in the lineup because starting catcher Adley Rutschman was a late scratch. That moment alone was an early indication of how aggravating this game was going to be.

➤ To their credit, the Yankees answered right back with two in the bottom of the first off Tomoyuki Sugano who, just like Fried, had no command. Two walks and a single by Judge loaded the bases with no out, so scoring only two was actually a letdown, but at least they got the two as Jazz Chisholm singled and Jasson Dominguez hit a sacrifice fly. Judge homered in the third for a 3-2 lead, and then the Yankees stopped hitting and stopped scoring, and that bit them in the ass.

➤ Fried gave up three straight singles which tied the game in the sixth, and then Luke Weaver returned from the injured list and was terrible. Ramon Urias homered for the go-ahead run, and Weaver gave up a walk to Sanchez and a single to Ryan O’Hearn. Tim Hill came in and he gave up an RBI single to Gunnar Henderson for some insurance, not that it was needed because the Yankees went 1-2-3 in the eighth and ninth. Another awful night where they went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base.

➤ I thought Aaron Boone made a mistake using Weaver in a 3-3 game in the eighth in his first game back. Why not let him dip his toes in during a less stressful situation? Why not flip him with Jonathan Loaisiga who pitched the seventh? Once again, Boone just makes me scream.

What they said in Friday’s clubhouse

• Weaver on the Urias homer: “I threw a solid pitch, and he had a pretty good swing. I was pretty devastated to see it go over. It’s not the start I was looking forward to. I felt I let the team down in the moment.”

• Sanchez: “It feels good to come back here after spending so many years here. I know the stadium really well, and I feel really comfortable playing here. It feels good because we got the victory; because we got the win; not because it was against them. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is. It just feels good to get that hit there and get the win.”

• Judge: “We definitely had opportunities early on. It’s better than not having anybody on, like the past couple of games. We’re moving in the right direction. All good teams go through little slumps when things don’t go your way.”

June 21: Yankees 9, Orioles 0

➤ What a performance by Clarke Schmidt. Seven no-hit innings and he didn’t need all that much from his defense because he struck out five and induced 12 pop outs or flyouts. He had the Orioles baffled with everything he threw, but especially his breaking stuff. Unfortunately, because pitch count is all that matters, he was at 103 so Boone took him out, the no-hitter be damned. I get it, but it sucks nonetheless.

➤ Schmidt’s ERA has sunk to 2.84 because he now has a scoreless innings streak of 25.1 which is the third-longest in a single season by a Yankees starter since 1961. He became just the 15th Yankee pitcher to throw at least seven no-hit innings.

➤ Things started a little rocky for him as he needed 27 pitches to get through the first thanks to two walks, but he left both men stranded and then he retired 20 of the final 21 batters he faced, the only man reaching by a hit by pitch in the fourth. Dominant in every way.

➤ JT Brubaker, who hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2022 due mainly to injuries, was called up the other day and in his Yankees debut he was tasked with completing the no-hitter. He struck out Sanchez on a 2-2 checked swing but the umpire blew the call, and naturally on the next pitch Sanchez singled to break it up. Brubaker finished the two innings without allowing another hit, so who knows what might have happened if the dipshit umpire hadn’t blown it.

➤ The bats certainly woke up for a day with 14 hits including three homers. Anthony Volpe had three of the hits to break his 0-for-25 slump, and it was pretty funny how they happened. The first one was a 60-foot-dribbler to third, the second was the ultimate short-porch wrap around the pole homer, and the third was a flare to center. Hey, they call count.

➤ Trent Grisham got the party started with a first-inning solo homer off Zach Eflin who the Yankees killed for six runs on 10 hits and two walks in three innings. In the second, Ben Rice and JC Escarra both homered, and in the third, three straight singles loaded the bases before an Escarra sacrifice fly and a two-run bloop single over a drawn-in infield by Oswald Peraza made it 6-0. Later, Volpe homered, Rice tripled home a run, and Escarra had an RBI single.

➤ The day for the Orioles was made even worse because Rutschman went on the IL, and then during the game Jordan Westburg left with a hand injury.

What they said in Saturday’s clubhouse

• Schmidt: “I started looking up towards the sixth or seventh and, going into the seventh, I knew that I had no hits but I also knew that I had close to 100 pitches. It was like I had an internal battle with myself where it’s kind of out of reach but I’m still going to try to go out there and put up no hits. Obviously, I want to go as deep as I can, but when you’re at the 103 mark and you have two more innings to go and you have 80 more games to go, you got to think bigger picture. Is it worth throwing 130 pitches? … I had a lot of adrenaline in the last inning. I also felt like I was emptying the tank.”

• Boone: “He was done. Clarke wasn’t in a position to [try to go the distance] today. … You’re going to power through pitch limits, within reason. Today was not that day for Clarke. I’m sitting there wanting to watch a little history, too, but the player and the long game is the most important thing.”

• Volpe: I’ve been trying to hit that ball for a couple games now. I’d be lying to say it didn’t feel amazing. I was really happy with my approach. As much as we joke about an infield single, I was happy to put the barrel on the ball my next at-bat.”

June 22: Yankees 4, Orioles 2

➤ If there’s anything we know about Will Warren, it’s that he’s either pretty good, or he’s flat out terrible, and in the first inning it sure looked like it was the latter. On his first two pitches he gave up a single and hit a batter. He helped himself with a great pickoff of Jackson Holliday at second, but then he walked Henderson, gave up an RBI single to O’Hearn and an RBI double to Colton Cowser for a 2-0 deficit.

➤ But then Warren settled in and threw 5.1 scoreless innings allowing just three other hits while striking out six. He kept the Yankees in the game on a day when their offense was nowhere to be found until the eighth.

➤ The Yankees’ first run came with two outs in the second as Chisholm doubled and scored on a single by DJ LeMahieu on a crazy play at the plate. Chisholm lost a shoe rounding third, then the throw from left field took catcher Maverick Handley into the baseline and Chisholm tried to avoid him but instead crashed into him. The ball got away and Chisholm was safe, and Handley had to leave the game which so Sanchez replaced him.

➤ The next five innings were scoreless as the Yankees threatened a couple times against Orioles starter Dean Kremer but couldn’t break through. Bellinger struck out to leave two men stranded in the third, and then after Judge walked and Rice doubled to start the sixth, Bellinger, Stanton, and Chisholm all made outs. Judge blew a chance to score on Bellinger’s fly ball to right because he made a bad read at third base. And in the seventh, Judge whiffed to end a threat with two men on.

➤ That all led to the dramatic eighth. In the top half, Hill walked the first two men so Fernando Cruz came in and he struck out three in a row as his splitter was devastating, and that seemed to light a fire under the Yankees’ asses. In the bottom half, Rice singled, took second on a groundout, and then Stanton - who had struck out three times - ripped a single to left and I could not believe that third base coach Luis Rojas held Rice rather than wave him him. My thought there was you’re down 2-1 in the eighth, you have to make the Orioles make the play, especially when you’ve had trouble scoring all day.

➤ Thankfully it didn’t matter because Chisholm followed with a shot off the wall in right-center on a 3-0 pitch. Rice trotted home with the tying run and 37-year-old Paul Goldschmidt - who was running for Stanton - trucked all the away home from first and just beat the throw by a hair for the go-ahead run. On that one, I thought Rojas made another mistake by sending him because I thought he was going to be dead, but it worked out. Chisholm then scored on another close play at the plate when he went on contact and LeMahieu grounded to short.

➤ It was a hell of a day for Chisholm, and since coming off the injured list June 3, he’s slashing .350/.420/.567 with four doubles, three homers and 11 RBIs. I guess that whole playing at 70 percent is working for him.

➤ Devin Williams gave up a two-out single in the ninth but then got Urias to end the game for his 10th save of the year.

What they said in Sunday’s clubhouse

• Warren on Chisholm: “Jazz is a spark, all the way around. Today we were calling him Barry Sanders with the collisions at the plate. He’s so toolsy - he’s got the speed, he can hit, he can field. He can do it all.”

• Goldschmidt on scoring the winning run: “I didn’t know where the ball was; I was just looking at Luis over there, just trying to run as fast as I could. You try to read the catcher going for the ball and just get to home as quickly as possible.”

• Boone on Goldschmidt: “It just embodies who Goldy is. That’s a guy who is in his late 30s that’s probably going to the Hall of Fame (and who) isn’t playing. Probably going to the All-Star Game this year and (he) isn’t playing a second day in a row, and that guy is ready to go in to pinch run and do that. … Man, that’s frickin’ humility. That’s who he is, and I’m so appreciative of that.”

The Yankees continue on without a day off as they will play three in Cincinnati to start the week, bringing the number to 16 consecutive days without a break. The Reds had lost three in a row before beating the Cardinals 4-1 Sunday. Terry Francona, who came out of retirement to manage Cincinnati, has a perplexing team that sits 40-38 and in fourth place in the NL Central, 6.5 games behind the Cubs. There’s plenty of talent, but they can’t get it going and have hovered around .500 all year.

Here are some of the Reds top players to watch:

➤ SS Elly De La Cruz: One of the most electric players in the game and he leads the Reds with 17 homers, 52 RBI and 21 stolen bases.

➤ C Jose Trevino: The ex-Yankee is having a very nice season as he leads the Reds with a .307 average.

➤ 2B Matt McLain: He’s supposed to become a star but after a great rookie season in 2023 he missed all of 2024 and this season is hitting just .209 with a .301 on-base.

➤ CF TJ Friedl: He has an on-base of .378 and an OPS of .813 with 30 RBI.

➤ RP Emilio Pagan: The closer has 18 saves and has an 11.8 strikeouts-per-nine with a 3.27 ERA and really impressive 0.850 WHIP.

The pitching matchups are scheduled to be:

• Monday, 7:10, YES: Allen Winans (0.00 ERA) who was called up after Ryan Yarbrough went on the injured list, vs. Nick Lodulo (3.71) who has a complete game victory this year but also has a wildness streak. He leads the NL this year with 10 hit batsmen, last year he hit 18 and in 2022 as a rookie he led MLB with 19. Yankee batters, beware.

• Tuesday, 7:10, YES: Carlos Rodon (3.10) vs. Chase Burns (0.00), one of the top prospects in MLB who the Reds picked No. 2 overall in the 2024 draft, will make his MLB debut after posting a 1.77 ERA and 12.1 strikeouts-per-nine in the minors.

• Wednesday, 7:10, Amazon Prime: Max Fried (2.05) vs. Brady Singer (4.13) who was acquired in the offseason from the Royals in a trade and is expected to be one of their long-term rotation studs.