Orioles bash Yankees, 17-5, to win pivotal AL East series, make MLB history: ‘That was incredible’
The Orioles’ lineup set aside the frustration bubbling underneath the critical AL East series and channeled it into mashing baseballs.
NEW YORK — All the talk this week was about the Orioles’ wounded pitching staff and the tomfoolery around batters being plunked.
Thursday against the Yankees, Baltimore’s bats made sure to put the attention where it should be — on MLB’s best offense.
The Orioles’ potent lineup set aside the frustration bubbling underneath the critical American League East series and channeled it into mashing baseballs to deliver a 17-5 triumph. Against the Bronx Bombers, it was the Orioles who hit like it, making a statement by tallying a season-high 19 hits to put up the most runs they’ve scored in a game since June 2021.
“I don’t know what kind of statement we’re making,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I know teams think we’re a good team, and our record shows it. The way we’ve been playing against the division, how we’ve been playing baseball the last couple years, everybody kind of knows. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”
After losing Tuesday’s opener, the Orioles bounced back to win the next two games and claim the series victory, outplaying the Yankees in all three facets in a set that felt like the postseason. Well, at least until the end of Thursday’s game, when the Orioles were winning by so much that the Yankees put in catcher Jose Trevino to pitch.
Baltimore is 49-25 and a half game back of the AL East-leading Yankees (51-26). The Orioles now have the longest streak in MLB history without suffering a series loss to a divisional foe since divisions were introduced in 1969. They’ve won or split 22 straight AL East series dating to April 2023, going 49-23 versus the division in that span, including 19-7 this year.
“I don’t know if we thought we had to show up here and prove anything,” slugger Ryan O’Hearn said. “We needed to show up and play. I believe we can play with anybody in this league, obviously, and we showed that today.”
The Orioles pounced on New York starter Luis Gil and maintained the barrage against his bullpen, scoring their most runs at Yankee Stadium since June 1986. Baltimore battered Gil, who entered with an AL-best 2.03 ERA, for seven runs in the first two innings, scoring six in the second frame before the right-hander was removed with one out. The unrelenting Orioles lineup then tallied 10 runs off New York’s relievers, scoring in all but one inning. The last time the club scored 17 runs against the Yankees was September 2005.
All nine of Baltimore’s starters recorded at least one hit and reached base twice, tallying their most hits in a game since July 2023 (also at Yankee Stadium) and reaching base an eye-popping 28 times. They smacked seven doubles, blasted three homers and walked seven times. If the Orioles’ performance Thursday was represented by a slash line, it would be .396/.483/.729 — good for a whopping 1.212 OPS.
“Really proud of how our guys winning this series,” Hyde said. “The way we came out and swung the bat today, that was incredible. There’s so many hard-hit balls there early, just really, really good at-bats.”
Gil, the AL Rookie of the Year front-runner and a Cy Young Award candidate, entered with 39 hits allowed in 80 innings. Over his past nine starts, he recorded a 1.14 ERA with a .128 batting average against. The Orioles went 8-for-12 off him with three extra-base hits for the worst start of the 26-year-old’s nascent career.
After Thursday’s thumping, the Orioles lead the majors leagues in runs per game (5.27), home runs (119) and slugging percentage (.455). Their 119 home runs through 74 games are the most in franchise history. They’ve homered in 19 straight games, the longest streak in MLB this season and one shy of the club record set in 1998, and they’ve hit three or more in 20 games.
“Up and down the order, it was just a complete offensive game,” Hyde said.
Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman led the way atop the order, reaching base a combined nine times. Henderson went 3-for-5 with two doubles— reaching base in each of his first four plate appearances to extend his on-base streak to an active MLB-high 27 games — and accounted for four runs, scoring three and driving in one. Rutschman reached base five times, going 3-for-5 with two walks and scoring thrice.
“It was really fun out there today,” Henderson said.
In the No. 3 hole, Ryan Mountcastle delivered the game’s biggest hit (a bases-clearing double with the bags full to put Baltimore up 6-0) and its least consequential (an RBI single in the ninth off Trevino) to go 3-for-6 with two doubles and four RBIs. Cleanup hitter Ryan O’Hearn struck first with an RBI double in the first inning, hit a sacrifice fly in the third and drove in two more with a single in the eighth.
Jordan Westburg, returning to the lineup after exiting Tuesday’s loss with a bruised hip from a strange collision with Juan Soto, reached base in each of his first three plate appearances, bringing home a run with a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch to bounce Gil. After the Yankees took issue with the Orioles hitting two batters Tuesday, New York pitchers plunked four over the series’ final two games, two in each loss.
Through the first two months of the season, outfielders and team leaders Anthony Santander, Cedric Mullins and Austin Hays weren’t hitting like themselves. Santander started slow, Mullins was engrossed in a brutal slump and Hays was trying to dig his way out of a 3-for-41 skid to begin the year. But all three clobbered homers Thursday.
Mullins hit his first home run since April 26, a two-run shot off Gil, to further emerge from his slump after his clutch 10th inning propelled Baltimore to a wild win Wednesday night. Santander put the game out of reach in the fifth with a three-run homer — his 19th of the season and 10th during a balmy June — to put the Orioles up 11-3. Hays crushed the final long ball, a two-run shot that traveled an estimated 432 feet, to maintain his recent hot streak with an OPS over .900 since his return from the injured list.
“We knew it was coming,” O’Hearn said. “Those guys are too talented. You’ve seen what they’ve done over the years. The more guys we can get hot in the lineup at one time, the better off we’ll be.”
Cole Irvin’s streak of nine consecutive starts allowing three earned runs or fewer was ended, as the left-hander surrendered five runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Gleyber Torres hit a solo homer in the second, Aaron Judge hit a two-run shot in the third and an RBI single in the fifth and Soto grounded out in the fifth for an RBI. Despite covering 9 2/3 innings the previous two nights, the Orioles’ bullpen was lockdown Thursday, as Bryan Baker (1-0), Keegan Akin and Nick Vespi combined for 4 1/3 scoreless frames, allowing only one hit and one walk.
Baltimore is 5-2 against New York. The Orioles need to win only two of the next four games against the Yankees to clinch the season series, a potentially pivotal feat given the division tiebreaker is head-to-head record.
The series win, which followed last weekend’s against the National League-best Philadelphia Phillies, is especially impressive considering the Orioles started Albert Suárez, Cade Povich and Cole Irvin — three pitchers who wouldn’t be in the club’s rotation if it were fully healthy — while the Yankees trotted out their top three starters, Nestor Cortes, Gerrit Cole and Gil.
“We’re chasing them down in this division,” O’Hearn said. “Guys came in locked in, ready to go today. It was really fun to be a part of.”
Orioles at Astros
Friday, 8:10 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
