Yankees erupt late in 11-3 rout of Orioles
- Davis Cornell
- May 3
- 5 min read
The Yankees took down the Orioles 11-3 behind an offensive explosion late to improve to a season high 12 games above .500. Max Fried took the mound for the Yankees and faced off against Trey Gibson, who made his MLB debut.
“I mean, it's awesome, you know, we got a great lineup, we got great players, and be able to be part of it and contribute to the winnings is awesome,” Jasson Dominguez said.
Fried navigated around a leadoff walk and recorded his first strikeout of the ballgame, working a scoreless top of the first.
Ben Rice kicked off the scoring in the bottom half of the inning, crushing a hanging curveball for a 379-foot solo shot to right, his 12th home run of the year, giving the Yankees a 1-0 advantage.
Fried struck out the side in order to put together a shutdown top of the second inning, but his pitch count was already up to 40 with 24 pitches in the first and 16 in the second.
In the top of the third, the Orioles evened the score at 1-1 thanks to an RBI bloop single to right from Blaze Alexander. Aaron Judge made a beautiful leaping catch at the wall in right to rob his college teammate Taylor Ward of extra bases for the second time this weekend.
Rice dunked a bloop double into left field with one out in the bottom of the third. Judge followed with a two-run bomb, tying him for the MLB lead with 13 home runs and giving the Yankees a 3-1 lead.
Rice had to leave the game in the top of the fourth with a left hand contusion on a pickoff attempt the inning prior. With the bases loaded and nobody out, Leody Taveras made it a 3-2 game with an RBI infield single. The next batter, Jeremiah Jackson, bounced into a 6-4-3 double play to tie the ballgame at three apiece.
Judge worked a two-out free pass in the bottom of the fifth. The next batter, Cody Bellinger, missed a home run by mere inches, lining a double off the right field wall. However, Jazz Chisholm Jr. grounded out to strand two runners in scoring position.
It looked like Fried picked up the first out of the top of the sixth inning, but a horrible throw from Ryan McMahon allowed the leadoff man to reach. Fried then walked a batter with one out, ending his day. Fernando Cruz took over and induced a 5-4-3 inning-ending double play to keep the game tied.
Final line for Fried: 5.1 innings pitched, six hits allowed, three earned runs, walking three, and striking out six on a season high 107 pitches. Fried threw his sinker 27% of the time, the cutter 24%, the changeup 21%, the fastball 13%, the curveball 9%, the sweeper 4%, and the slider 2%. He topped out at 97.9, averaging 96 mph on his heater, and had 14 swings and misses today.
Dominguez led off the bottom of the inning with a bullet double down the third base line, 107.9 off the bat. Dominguez moved up to third on an Austin Wells groundout. McMahon drove in Dominguez with an RBI infield single, giving the Yankees a 4-3 lead.
Cruz came back out for the seventh inning and surndered a leadoff single and picked up a groundout, allowing the tying run to move up to second. Brent Headrick replaced Cruz and included a pair of groundouts to strand the tying run at third.
Headrick came back out for the eighth and faced the minimum, thanks to a tailor-made 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.
Jazz led off the home half of the eighth with a single to right. Dominguez followed with a two-run homer into the short porch in right, his first bomb since August 25 last year, to make it 6-3. Wells, McMahon and José Caballero followed with three straight singles, loading the bases with nobody out. The third hit of the game for McMahon.
The next batter, Trent Grisham, extended the Yankees' lead with a sacrifice fly. Paul Golschmidt, who took over for Rice, then dunked in a two-run broken bat bloop single to blow the game wide open, making it 9-3. Jazz, in his second at-bat of the inning, tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly. Dominguez followed with an RBI double, his third extra base hit of the day and second from the right side of the plate.
“I've been working for a long time on my right side, and I'm glad the work that I'm putting in is showing up,” Dominguez said.
Yankees closer David Bednar got the call for the ninth in a non-save situation and worked a scoreless inning to secure the series win for the Yankees.
The Yankees will look to complete the sweep tomorrow with Cam Schlittler on the mound, facing off against Shane Baz. The first pitch is slated for 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.
My thoughts on the game: Another great win for the Yankees. Fried's command was a tick off today, but he still gave the Yankees a solid start, putting them in a great spot to win. The bullpen did their job as Headrick, Curz and Bednar combined for 3.2 shutout innings with three strikeouts. The offense exploded yet again with 15 hits and 11 runs; everyone in the starting lineup had a hit, aside from Grisham, who did hit the ball hard three times. Dominguez had three knocks, as his OPS is now .872. McMahon had three knocks; he has been hitting much better as of late. Judge had a couple of hits, including his 13th homer of the year, but he has rarely been using the ABS challenge system this year, only using it three times, and decided not to challenge today on a strike three call that was clearly out of the zone. Rice had a couple of extra base hits, including a home run in his two at-bats today. He left the game, but x-rays were negative, and he is day-to-day. I would expect him to have the day off tomorrow. The Yankees have a big decision to make now on whether they will activate Anthony Volpe or keep him down in the minors; Jack Curry, YES analyst, seems to think they will keep in the minors. On to tomorrow as the Yankees have an opportunity to complete the sweep.
“The indications that I’m getting from talking to people around the Yankees,” Curry said. “Is that the Yankees are not going to move forward & promote Volpe to the Major Leagues. Not just yet.”
Comments