New York Yankees 6, Baltimore Orioles 5
NEW YORK — In a thrilling return, Aaron Judge hit a game-tying home run in the ninth inning. Then, in the 10th inning, rookie Anthony Volpe sealed the win for the rising New York Yankees by hitting a sacrifice fly that brought in the winning run. Tuesday night, the Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-5.
Harrison Bader‘s home run helped New York come back from being down 4-0 early. In a key turn of events, Aaron Judge helped Gerrit Cole avoid his first loss in 11 starts this season.
After a great 6-1 road trip, the Yankees (30-20) kept their winning streak going by beating their AL East rivals in the first game of the series. Both teams came into the game on a winning streak, but the Yankees won, giving them their fifth straight win. With this win, they have now won 15 of their last 20 games. They are now 10 games above .500 for the first time this season, which is a big deal.
Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson of Baltimore started things off with home runs. After Gerrit Cole walked two batters in a row with two outs in the first inning, Adam Frazier hit a two-run double that just missed Aaron Judge’s glove in deep right field.
Bader showed off his power with a home run in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning, when starter Kyle Bradish gave up three runs, Bader tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Anthony Rizzo hit a double that drove in a run, and then DJ LeMahieu hit a single that scored a run to make the score 4-3.
Cole’s game was over when he gave up back-to-back singles to start the sixth inning. He had reached the amazing milestone of 2,000 strikeouts in the second inning. After this, Terrin Vavra hit a bases-loaded groundout against Ron Marinaccio to put the Orioles back in front, 5-4.
The Baltimore relief was strong enough to keep the lead until Aaron Judge came to bat in the ninth inning. Even though Judge was down 0-2 in the count, he hit the ball hard, sending Félix Bautista’s splitter over the left-field fence for a home run. This was Judge’s 14th home run of the season and his 8th home run in the last nine games, which is very amazing.
Even though Bautista got the last three hitters he faced out, the Yankees scored the winning run in the 10th inning against Bryan Baker (3-2), which gave them the win.
Bader hit a slow bouncer that moved Isiah Kiner-Falefa from second base to third as the automatic runner. After that, Willie Calhoun got a planned walk, which set the stage for Volpe. Volpe hit a long fly ball to center field, where it was caught just in front of the warning track. So, Kiner-Falefa ran home without being thrown out, scoring the winning run.
This was Volpe’s first game-winning hit in the big leagues. As he stood between first and second base, his happy teammates crowded around him to celebrate the exciting win. Judge and Rizzo poured cold drink on Volpe while he was being interviewed on the field as a joke.
Michael King (1-1) got the win after two innings in which he didn’t give up any hits and struck out three hitters. King started the 10th inning well by striking out the first two hitters. Then, Volpe made a great leaping catch at shortstop to catch Frazier’s humpback liner with two outs, keeping the game tied.
UP NEXT
On Wednesday night, the Yankees’ left-handed pitcher Nestor Cortes (4-2, 5.21 ERA) will be starting the middle game of the series. He will face Baltimore’s right-handed pitcher Tyler Wells (3-1, 2.94 ERA).
What do you think? Leave your comment below.
