The Orioles had this one in reach, then watched it slip away in the kind of two-inning mess that can turn a tight game into a frustrating loss in a hurry. A disputed replay call in the seventh, then a rough stretch in the eighth, left Baltimore with a 5-3 defeat against the Yankees on Wednesday night.
The turning point came with the game tied 3-3 in the bottom of the seventh. With two outs, Pete Alonso got a hanging slider from Brent Headrick and sent it toward the left-field foul pole.
It was ruled foul on the field, and Baltimore challenged. The replays appeared to show the ball clearing the top of the pole and leaving the yard, but the call stood after New York in the replay center declined to overturn it.
Alonso then struck out, and the game rolled into the eighth still even.
That’s where things unraveled. Cam Sanders opened the inning for Baltimore after Luis García Jr. lined out, then hit Heliot Ramos and walked Jazz Chisholm to put the winning run in scoring position.
Sanders punched out Spencer Jones, but then hit pinch hitter José Caballero to load the bases. Craig Albernaz went to Yennier Cano for the final out, but George Lombard Jr. chopped a slow roller down the third-base line, and Coby Mayo had no play at first as the Yankees grabbed a 4-3 lead.
Cano then bounced a splitter to Austin Wells, and Yohel Pozo couldn’t corral it as Chisholm scored the fifth run.
Baltimore did get a shot in the bottom of the eighth. Samuel Basallo singled with one out, Dylan Beavers walked with two outs, and the tying run was aboard. But Leody Taveras popped up a changeup, ending the threat and leaving both runners stranded.
The Yankees didn’t add to the lead in the ninth, finishing the inning with a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play. That gave the Orioles one last chance against David Bednar, but the comeback never got started. Colton Cowser grounded out, pinch hitter Christian Encarnacion-Strand struck out, and Jackson Holliday lifted a soft fly to left to end it.
Baltimore’s offense was thin all night. The Orioles scored their first run in the opening inning without a hit, using walks from Holliday and Gunnar Henderson, a Basallo fly out that moved Holliday to third, and then a double steal of second and home by the middle infielders.
The rest of the damage came from two solo homers. Alonso delivered his 14th opposite-field shot of the season in the third to cut a two-run Yankees lead in half.
Then Dylan Beavers tied it in the sixth with a towering blast into the left-field bullpen. Outside of those swings, the bats were quiet.
The Orioles went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and struck out 11 times.
Chris Bassitt wasn’t at his sharpest, but he kept Baltimore in the game for a while. The Yankees opened with back-to-back bouncing singles from Trent Grisham and Ben Rice, but Bassitt escaped by getting Luis García Jr. to bounce into a 4-6-3 double play and then coaxing a groundout from Heliot Ramos.
The second inning was tougher. Bassitt walked Jazz Chisholm Jr. on six pitches, then gave up another bouncing single to Spencer Jones.
Ryan McMahon followed with a hard liner to right that drove in Chisholm, though McMahon was thrown out trying for second. With Jones at third, George Lombard Jr. lifted a sacrifice fly to right to make it 2-1 Yankees.
New York added another in the third when Rice turned on a 3-2 fastball and launched a 431-foot homer to right-center. The Yankees threatened again with back-to-back singles from García and Ramos, but Basallo made a diving stop at first for the second out, and Bassitt struck out Jones to end the inning.
From there, Bassitt settled in. He worked a 1-2-3 fourth, striking out McMahon and Lombard.
He then opened the fifth by striking out Grisham and followed with back-to-back unassisted groundouts to first. His streak of nine straight Yankees retired ended with a Chisholm single in the sixth, and he finished the inning by striking out Jones.
Grant Wolfram got the final out, and Bassitt’s night ended at 5.2 innings, with 8 hits, 3 earned runs, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts.
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