The holiday weekend became hungry for the Yankees.
Hosting the team with the worst baseball record, the Yankees dropped the series against the Orioles, marked by a brutal 8-7 defeat on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx.
Andrew Heaney gained three points in the seventh inning, as the Yankees (78-58) lost for the sixth time in eight games (after a 13-win streak), while falling 9-7 to the Orioles ( 43-92)) this season. They lost the chance to win a game against the Rays, leaders of the AL East, who won 18-1 against the Orioles this season, and still led the division by 7 games.
The Yankees were left with just one win against the Orioles this weekend, and needed extra tickets on Friday night to get it.
With a slim bullpen (accentuated by the loss of Jonathan Loaisiga to the injured list Sunday morning), Heaney was entrusted with a three-run lead in the seventh inning and jumped quickly. The left-handers, who were moved to the bullring when Corey Kluber returned to the rotation, began the entry by loading the bases on a batter and two singles. Jahmi Jones threw a double double to right field over Giancarlo Stanton’s glove to make it 7-6.
After Heaney finally recorded the first out, Jorge Mateo hit a simple blop over DJ LeMahieu’s outstretched glove to tie the game 7-7.
Heaney was snatched from the mound and replaced by Wandy Peralta, who, like Aroldis Chapman and Clay Holmes, had been needed to pitch in the first two games of the series. Peralta quickly ceded a single to Kelvin Gutierrez that put the Orioles ahead 8-7.
Gary Sanchez provided almost all of the Yankees’ offense in two big changes. The new No. 9 batsman, who had hit a home run in his previous 23 games before Sunday, crushed a pair of long balls, including a grand slam that gave the Yankees a 4-1 lead in the second inning. Sanchez’s second homer, a two-run shot, put them ahead 7-4 in the sixth.
Kluber, returning to his second outing after losing three months with a strain on his shoulders, was not too strong. It lasted only 3 innings / ₃, giving two runs in four hits and three walks, but continued with a 4-2 lead.
Joely Rodriguez threw back-to-back with an outside in the fifth (the second that sent off coach Aaron Boone to discuss balls and punches), but Albert Abreu relieved him and got out of the jam.
Anthony Rizzo added the Yankees’ lead at the end of the fifth position, with his simple two-blop that made it 5-2.
Gleyber Torres’ lax approach on a short ball on the short field in the sixth inning – which allowed Gutiérrez to step on a single in the field with two outs – gave way to a two-run homer by Cedric Mullins to get the orioles within 5-4.
But Stanton ended the inning with an outstanding catch on the right field, running into the gap to the warning court and diving to steal additional bases from Anthony Santander.