Late-inning fireworks weren’t enough to ignite a Yankees win against the Orioles with Aaron Judge on the bench.
Still dealing with hand soreness after being plunked a night earlier, Judge sat out of Wednesday’s eventful 7-6 loss in the Bronx, during which the Yankees rallied to force extra innings and hit two Orioles batters with pitches.
Most of the drama occurred after Yankees ace Gerrit Cole departed his long-awaited season debut.
Giancarlo Stanton’s ninth-inning RBI single off Craig Kimbrel tied the game, 5-5, but Baltimore scored two runs against Yankees closer Clay Holmes in the 10th to even this week’s series between AL East heavyweights at one win apiece.
The game ramped up in the seventh inning, when left-handed reliever Victor González drilled lefty-hitting Orioles star Gunnar Henderson in the shoulder with a 94-mph sinker on the first pitch of the at-bat, eliciting cheers from a sold-out Yankee Stadium crowd of 47,155.
González said there was no intent to hit Henderson.
“Just trying to execute a good pitch inside there,” González said through an interpreter. “Just slipped out.”
Henderson later scored on a Ryan Mountcastle RBI double, putting Baltimore up, 5-1.
The Yankees cut their deficit to 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh when Stanton crushed a three-run home run into Monument Park, earning an even more rapturous ovation. Stanton’s 18th home run of the season traveled 440 feet.
Yankees left-hander Caleb Ferguson then hit lefty-swinging Colton Cowser in the arm with a 94-mph fastball on a 1-1 count, prompting a frustrated Cowser to throw down his bat.
Neither hit-by-pitch prompted an umpire warning, Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. They came a day after Judge exited Tuesday’s game after being struck in the left hand by a 94-mph fastball from Albert Suárez.
Judge said after that game that he was “definitely pissed.” Imaging came back clean on Judge’s hand.
Even without Judge, the Yankees’ offense came alive late in Wednesday’s loss. Anthony Volpe’s leadoff double in the ninth against Kimbrel set up Stanton’s game-tying hit.
Baltimore answered in the 10th when Cedric Mullins delivered a one-out RBI single, stole third base and scored when catcher Jose Trevino’s throw sailed wide. The stolen base was one of four by Baltimore against Trevino, who was playing in his first game since Boston swiped nine bags with him behind the plate on Sunday.
“Just keep going,” Trevino said when asked about his level of frustration.
Holmes, meanwhile, has allowed two runs in three consecutive outings, though one of Wednesday’s was unearned due to the automatic runner scoring.
“It’s a mixture of some hits falling in there and then not being able to put guys away,” Holmes said. “Probably the last three outings, it’s kind of been the case: some soft contact landing, and not being able to minimize damage.”
The Yankees scored one run in the 10th on rookie Ben Rice’s sacrifice fly before reliever Dillon Tate closed out the game for Baltimore.
It all added up to Baltimore playing spoiler on the night Cole made his first MLB start since being diagnosed during spring training with nerve inflammation and edema in his right elbow.
Cole was charged with two earned runs over 4+ innings, during which he allowed three hits and a walk while striking out five.
He departed after allowing a leadoff single to Mullins in the top of the fifth inning with the score tied, 1-1. The next batter, Ramón Urías, struck a two-run home run off reliever Ron Marinaccio.
Not fully built up after making three minor-league rehab starts, Cole threw 62 pitches and became sharper as the night progressed. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner struck out three batters in the third inning and two more in the fourth, topping out at 97.5 mph with his fastball.
“It was nice,” a smiling Cole said of his return. “It’s kind of a special game for me a little bit. It’s just been a long few months and a lot of emotions, so I wasn’t too sure how I was gonna feel out there, but locating the ball always quells the nerves a little bit.”
Baltimore jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Henderson led off with a 109.1-mph grounder that deflected off of second baseman Gleyber Torres’ glove, and Ryan O’Hearn drove him in with a two-out RBI double two batters later.
The Yankees tied the game, 1-1, in the bottom of the first when Torres lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to left field off Orioles rookie Cade Povich to complete an 11-pitch at-bat.
Povich, the ninth-ranked prospect in the Orioles’ loaded farm system, avoided further damage, limiting the Yankees to one hit and one run over his 4.2 innings despite issuing five walks.
The Yankees and Orioles entered this week’s divisional showdown with the top two records in the American League, the same number of losses and only 1.5 games separating them in the AL East.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the much-hyped series in the Bronx is tied after two games.
The Yankees opened the three-game set with a 4-2 win on Tuesday night behind six shutout innings from starter Nestor Cortes. Wednesday’s loss cut the Yankees’ (51-25) division lead over the Orioles (48-25) back down to 1.5 games.
The Yankees are now 2-4 against the Orioles, who won three of four in Baltimore during the teams’ first series of the season.
Rookie sensation Luis Gil (9-1, 2.03 ERA) is set to start Thursday afternoon’s series finale for the Yankees, while left-hander Cole Irvin (6-3, 3.03 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for Baltimore.
