YANKEES MISS CHANCE TO SWEEP ORIOLES
- April Claudio, Contributor
Friday night Gerrit Cole earned his second win of the season as he pitched against Cade Povich. Cole had a great outing, pitching 6 innings, with 1 earned run and 7 strikeouts. Povich pitched 5 1/3 innings and gave up 3 runs and struck out 6. The Yankees went up 2-0 in the second inning as Anthony Volpe and Jahmai Jones each hit a single and Jose Trevino hit a double. The Orioles scored 1 run in the same inning as Ramon Urias hit a RBI triple. Aaron Judge hit a solo home run in the third inning making the score 3-1. Trevino hit another double in the ninth inning and scored on a single by Juan Soto. Both benches cleared in the ninth inning after Clay Holmes hit Heston Kjerstad in the helmet with a pitch. After some pushing and shoving and the Orioles manager getting ejected, Clay Holmes earned his 21st save as the Yankees won 4-1.
Baltimore has lost 4 in a row which now put the Yankees 1 game out of first place.
Saturday night the Yankees take the win with Luis Gil on the mound putting them tied with the Orioles for first place. Gil pitched 6 innings and gave up 1 run while striking out 7. Grayson Rodriguez pitched 5 innings for the Orioles. He also struck out 7 but gave up 6 runs. The Yankees scored 4 runs in the first inning. Juan Soto scored on a RBI single by Gleyber Torres and Austin Wells followed that up with a 3 run home run. The Orioles only run came in the fourth inning. In the fifth inning Juan Soto and Aaron Judge hit solo home runs. Final score 6-1.
Sunday afternoon was a big game. The chance for the Yankees to be back in first place. Carlos Rodon took the mound against Dean Kremer. Rodon pitched 4 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 7. Kremer pitched 4 2/3 innings and also gave up 2 runs on 4 hits but only struck out 4. The Yankees went up 1-0 early when Anthony Volpe hit a double in the second inning and scored on a single by Trent Grisham. The Orioles scored 2 runs in the third inning off a home run by Gunnar Henderson. Trent Grisham hit a solo home run in the fifth inning to tie the game but in the same inning Anthony Santander also hit a home run off Tommy Kahnle. The Yankees went into the ninth inning down one run. Trent Grisham and Oswaldo Cabrera walked leaving rookie Ben Rice to be next at back. And Rice delivered, hitting a home run putting the Yankees ahead by 2. Clay Holmes came in to close the game and struggled a bit by giving up a single and walked two. With 2 outs Ryan Mountcastle hit a line drive to Volpe which meant a throw to second base would have ended the game but Volpe missed the catch and bobbled the ball making the throw to second too late and a run scored. Still with 2 outs, Cedric Mullens came in to pinch hit and hit a fly ball to deep left field, Alex Verdugo running to catch it stumbled a few times and couldn’t make the catch. Final score 5-6, Orioles won.
This was a disappointing loss for the Yankees and their fans. But hopefully the momentum they did have will continue when they come back after the All Star break to face the Tampa Bay Rays on the 19th.