Gerrit Cole on the mound. The Orioles’ offense proving relentless. Giancarlo Stanton doing damage. Batters plunked by pitches with questionable intents. Comebacks, stiff-arms and remarkable plays as the two best teams in the American League battled for supremacy.
If Wednesday were a preview at what Yankees-Orioles showdowns will look like for the rest of the season and perhaps postseason, it was a fun one — and ultimately a disappointing one for the home crowd.
The Yankees roared back from a four-run hole beginning in the bottom of the seventh and sent the contest into extra innings, but the Orioles tagged Clay Holmes for a pair of runs in the 10th in a 7-6 Yankees loss in front of a sellout crowd of 47,155 in The Bronx.
The Yankees (51-25) dropped just a sixth game in their past 20 and watched their AL East lead get shaved to 1 ¹/₂ games before Thursday’s series finale.
After a thrilling seventh, eighth and ninth innings — which included four Stanton RBIs that gave the Yankees life — Holmes and Jose Trevino folded in the fateful 10th.
Holmes, pitching for a second straight night, allowed a bloop single to Cedric Mullins that scored the ghost runner for the go-ahead run.
Mullins advanced to second on Alex Verdugo’s throw home and then swiped third, with Trevino — whose throwing arm suddenly has become a large problem — throwing the ball into left field to add a tack-on run.
That would be enough for the Orioles, who finally put the Yankees away in the bottom of the 10th. DJ LeMahieu flared a single into center against Dillon Tate.
Ben Rice lined a would-be hit into right field, but a diving Anthony Santander took the hit away and turned it into a sacrifice fly.
With Trevino up, Baltimore catcher Adley Rutschman did what Trevino could not: throw out a runner at second base.
Pinch-runner Oswaldo Cabrera was nailed trying to advance into scoring position.
Trevino then walked before Jahmai Jones — taking the at-bat on a night Aaron Judge apparently was unavailable — was punched out to end it.
The best development for the Yankees was Cole, shelved all season with nerve inflammation and edema, successfully retaking the mound and pitching into the fifth inning.
The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner appeared to get sharper as his outing lengthened, finishing with four-plus innings in which he was charged with two runs on three hits, a walk and five strikeouts.
There were worse developments.
Trevino, in his first start since the steal-fest Sunday in Boston, allowed four more stolen bases that were not close.
The Yankees’ offense was kept quiet until the seventh inning.
And the Yankees’ possible attempt at retribution may have backfired.
A night after Judge was drilled in the hand with a fastball that kept him out of the lineup, the Yankees may have responded beginning in the seventh inning.
Victor Gonzalez threw a first-pitch, 94.2 mph fastball that hit Baltimore star Gunnar Henderson in the back of the shoulder.
The crowd cheered, and Henderson calmly took first base.
But if the pitch were thrown with intent, the Yankees surely did not intend what came next.
Henderson stole second then scored the Orioles’ final run of the night on a triple from Ryan Mountcastle.
That run loomed large when the Yankees’ offense awoke in the seventh inning.
A few soft singles from Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto put two on for Stanton, who demolished a three-run home run against Baltimore fireballer Yennier Cano to bring the Yankees within one — the one-run gap a result of the possible retribution.
In the eighth inning, another Oriole was plunked — Colton Cowser, who slammed his bat down — this time by Caleb Ferguson, but no warnings or ejections were issued.
The Orioles threatened to add on in the eighth, when they loaded the bases against recent call-up Anthony Misiewicz.
With two out, Santander crushed a deep drive to right-center on which makeshift center fielder Alex Verdugo made a tremendous over-the-shoulder catch before smashing into the wall.
Given momentum, the Yankees temporarily ran with it.
Against Craig Kimbrel in the ninth, Volpe smacked a double before Stanton obliterated an RBI single at 120 mph that sent the game to extra innings, but that was where the momentum halted.
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