New York Yankees 1, Baltimore Orioles 3
NEW YORK — The Yankees lost the final home series game to the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 3-1 on Sunday. Aaron Judge failed to hit his 62nd homer that would have a new AL homer record. The Yankees prepare to play their final four games of the regular season on the road.
A crowd of 44,332 people who watched the Yankees play their final home game of the regular season in the rain for much of the afternoon were dissatisfied with Judge’s performance, as he struck out three times and walked only once at Yankee Stadium. Beginning on Monday night, New York will play the first of its final four games of the regular season in Texas.
The power hitter began the first inning facing rookie Kyle Bradish but it ended with a strikeout. In the second inning, he gave in to a curveball leaving the bases full. He walked in the fifth and struck out against Bryan Baker in the seventh. Since he hit No. 61 at Rogers Center in Toronto, where the Yankees won the Blue Jays series, on Wednesday night, he is now 1 for 7.
Judge leads the American League with 130 runs batted in and is gunning to win the Triple Crown for the first time since Miguel Cabrera of Detroit in 2012. His batting average dropped to .311 and he is now four points behind the leader in the league, Luis Arraez of Minnesota.
The 82-77 record for Baltimore ensured the team’s first winning season since 2016. The Orioles finished the previous season with a record of 52-110, making them the first team since at least the year 1900 to post a winning record the year after suffering 110 losses or more.
When Ron Marinaccio left the game while pitching to Jorge Mateo in the eighth inning, it left the already injury-plagued bullpen of the AL East champion Yankees worried. Because of inflammation in his rotator cuff, the Yankees will be without Clay Holmes until the postseason, and Aroldis Chapman (3-4) was once again erratic, walking three batters during Baltimore’s surge to take the lead in the seventh inning. One of those batters was the rookie Gunnar Henderson, who came up with the bases loaded.
After starting the season with Minnesota and Milwaukee in the major leagues, right-handed pitcher Chi Chi Gonzalez made his debut with the New York Yankees. Chi Chi Gonzalez is 30 years old. He threw to Jose Trevino, who was his teammate in the batting order for Oral Roberts in 2012 and 2013.
During his 4 2/3 innings of work, Gonzalez allowed one run on four hits and three walks.
After pitching more than five innings, Bradish was charged with one run (unearned), three hits, and five walks.
Logan Gillaspie (1-0) won his first big league game by pitching a scoreless sixth inning against the Yankees. Baker got six straight outs while striking out five batters, and Dillon Tate was able to have three outs.
In the first, Ryan Mountcastle hit a double that drove in a run. In the fifth inning, Aaron Hicks scored from second base when Bradish threw a wild pitch and Adley Rutschman made an error by throwing the ball into center.
Cedric Mullins started the seventh against Yankees’ Chapman by getting on base with an infield hit. After Chapman walked three of the first four batters, Marinaccio got Austin Hays to hit a sacrifice fly.
UP NEXT
Luis Severino (6-3, 3.41) will take the mound for the Yankees when they begin their four-game series in Texas on Monday.
What led to the Yankees’ defeat in the last home series of the season?
