Yankees lose to Orioles at Stadium, magic number to clinch AL East remains at one
Yankees starting pitcher Clarke Schmidt walks to the dugout against the Baltimore Orioles after the top of the first inning of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Orioles put a cork in the Yankees’ celebration of a would-be division clincher on Tuesday night, delaying by at least a day the crowning of an AL East champion.
Baltimore’s 5-3 victory at Yankee Stadium left the Yankees with a magic number of one, so they still can clinch by beating the Orioles on Wednesday or Thursday.
For the Orioles (87-70), the game meant more than merely spoiling the Yankees’ party. Baltimore clinched a playoff spot after the game when the Twins lost.
The Yankees (92-65) had won six of seven games coming into Tuesday.
The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a single by Jordan Westburg, a double into the rightfield corner by Ryan O’Hearn and a run-scoring groundout to second base by Heston Kjerstad.
That all came against starter Clarke Schmidt, who otherwise seemed to have good stuff, striking out four Orioles in the first three innings.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer allowed a hit to Gleyber Torres to start the bottom of the first, then nothing else until Torres singled again in the third inning.
The visitors took a 2-0 lead in the fourth when Anthony Santander walked, reached second on a wild pitch and scored on O’Hearn’s two-out, two-strike single to leftfield.
Aaron Judge led off the home fourth with a towering home run – his 56th this season – to leftfield on a 3-and-2 count to make it 2-1.
The Yankees got a scare in the fifth when third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. slammed into the tarpaulin as he attempted a sliding catch of a foul pop by Gunnar Henderson. Chisholm came up limping but stayed in the game.
Kremer walked the first two batters of the fifth, but that Yankees drive fizzled after Alex Verdugo grounded into a double play.
Santander’s home run off the rightfield foul pole in the sixth made it 3-1 and knocked Schmidt out of the game. Schmidt (5-5, 2.55 ERA) went 5 2/3 innings, allowed four hits and struck out seven while walking one.
Giancarlo Stanton narrowly missed tying it with a two-run home run to right in the bottom of the sixth, but it was just foul. He followed that by crushing a foul “home run” to left.
Then Ramon Urias led off the seventh with a home run to right-center off Tim Mayza to make it 4-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, Torres’ ground rule double drove in Anthony Rizzo to get the Yankees within one run, then Juan Soto singled home Verdugo to make it 4-3.
Torres initially held at third base on Soto’s single, then tried to score when Soto ran to second. But the Orioles threw home and caught Torres in no-man’s land. He was out, 9-2-6-2-5-2-6.
Judge was on deck at the time, making Torres’ mistake that much worse.
The Orioles made it 5-3 in the eighth when Colton Cowser crushed a long home run to right off Ian Hamilton.
There was not much drama about the eventual outcome of the AL East race entering the game, given the Yankees’ dominant position.
But it did add to the moment that the opponent was the Orioles, the closest team to the Yankees in the division and the defending AL East champions.
In 2023, Baltimore won 101 games, 19 better than the Yankees.
“We know obviously they’re the team that’s still in competition with us for the division, so there’s that,” manager Aaron Boone said before the game. “We know how good they are.”
What would it be like to clinch the division at home?
“It’d be great,” Boone said, “There’s no place like the Bronx and Yankee Stadium this time of year. It’s starting to cool off a little bit, obviously. Hopefully, we can go out and get that done in front of our home fans.”
Notes & quotes: Relief pitcher Jake Cousins, who went on the injured list Sunday with a right pectoral strain, said before the game that he hopes to start throwing in a few days and is aiming to return for the start of the playoffs. “That’s the goal,” he said. “Setting the date for Oct. 5.” Said Boone, “We’re optimistic. I think all the testing proved pretty good.” . . . The Knicks’ Josh Hart threw out the first pitch, wearing a Yankees jersey with the No. 32 of his great uncle, Elston Howard . . . Former Yankee Bernie Williams played the national anthem on a guitar.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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