The Yankees Begin Their Road Trip with an 11-inning Defeat in Baltimore
In 11 innings, the Yankees struggled to score more than one run. The walk-off walk from Aroldis Chapman’s arm was the turd icing on the cake.
But, Cameron Maybin made his first appearance in the booth tonight! The newcomer to the YES Network called his first Yankees match and quickly settled in, collaborating well with Michael Kay. Sadly, the New York lineup did not fare as well. The Yankees’ utter fecklessness hurt them badly, continuing a troubling trend of mediocrity against the Orioles that began last season.
Back in the game, the Orioles started to put themselves in the very same situation as the Yankees in the very first inning, with men on 2nd and 3rd and two outs. Fortunately for the Yankees, some sharp defense from DJ LeMahieu at third base and Rizzo at first base kept Monty out of the second inning with no runs scored.
The Yankees scored a run in the top of the third inning. Kyle Higashioka, who’d already turned into such a pumpkin in 2022, got things started with a double down the left-field line. Rizzo did his part by moving Higgy to third on a groundout to the right side. Finally, thankfully, Stanton unleashed one of his patented rockets — 69.9 mph off the bat into the right-center field:
At 1-0, the Yankees began taking their first lead of the night. Nice — you’re now 10-for-55 with RISP this season! It would not get any better.
Monty went out, played his part, and pitched the crucial ninth inning. Despite a leadoff walk as well as a bunt that moved the runner to second, Montgomery kept the Orioles from scoring, thanks in part to that other web gem from David John at the third spot. The Orioles, who arrived into tonight worse in the RISP than the Yankees, had so far maintained their form.
The game remained quiet till the bottom of the fifth inning because once Monty chose to walk the Orioles’ No. 9 striker for the 2nd time that night. With one out, Clarke Schmidt’s warmups in the Yankees bullpen were sped up. Ever since pitching coach Matt Blake arrived on the mound and presumably told Monty to calm down, he replied by attempting to hit out Cedric Mullins and getting a harmless groundout to send the game to the sixth inning.
For a brief moment, it appeared that Monty’s escape jolted the Yankee’s bats. Josh Donaldson led off the sixth inning with a single to left field that went into the outfield. Following a strikeout by Gallo, LeMahieu slashed a DJ-style groundball through the right side of the infield. Gleyber Torres then walked four pitches to load the bases. Jordan Lyles’ frustrating night was over, and the Orioles went to the bullpen.
Despite a brilliantly pitched game up to that point, Austin Hays greeted Peralta with such a leadoff double in the bottom of the 7th, and the tying run was in scoring position. Higashioka later passed the ball, and there was a runner on third with no one out. Former Yankee farmhand Jorge Mateo singled to tie the game at one but was thrown out at second base by Gallo.
The bottom of the tenth inning began with Uras at second base and Ryan Mountcastle at the plate, both facing Yankee pitcher Schmidt, who induced two quick ground balls to Gonzalez at shortstop, who replaced IKF. Following that, an intentional walk to Anthony Santander put Hays at the plate with two outs. After one more groundout, it was off to the eleventh.
Giancarlo did come up with Rizzo as that of the Manfred Man in the top of the eleventh. Rizzo, attempting to advance to third on a ground ball hit in front of him, was hit by the ball for the first out of the inning. A hit with a runner in scoring position! So it’s 11-for-61 for such a season, and Stanton was at first with one out. Awful business.
Return tomorrow for Game 2 of the series. The Yankees’ first pitch is at 7:05 p.m., with Jameson Taillon on the mound. Will the offense remember to play Tyler Wells? Your guess is just as valid as mine.
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