Judge HR Ties It in 9th! Volpe Sac Fly Wins It in 10th! NY 6 Baltimore 5 in 10

May 24, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0

Aaron Judge bombed a CLUTCH solo Homer to left to tie the game 5-5 with 1 out in the 9th off Orioles ace reliever Felix Bautista, and Anthony Volpe hit a Clutch 1-out Sac Fly to deep right center to walk it off in the 10th — a great Yankee come-from-behind win over the Baltimore Orioles at the Stadium, 6-5, on a Tuesday night.

In between, Michael King pitched filthy shutout ball — including stranding the inherited runner in the top of the 10th by starting the inning with 2 strikeouts. The Yankee bullpen was brilliant as usual — 5 innings of shutout ball in relief of Gerrit Cole, who had an off night.

“The electricity in the dugout was kind of fun to be a part of,” said Michael King afterwards about what it was like after Judge tied the game with the homer.

“They got one of the best bullpens in the game; especially Bautista,” said Judge afterwards. “He’s got that 101-MPH fastball and great slider/split combo. I was just trying to stay ready for that heater. I was just able to get something up there in the zone and was able to put a good swing on it.”

NY improves to 30-20, and moves to with 5 games of Tampa (which got bombed by Toronto 20-1) and within 2 games of 2nd place Baltimore, which falls to 31-17.

1. Cole Puts Yanks in 4-0 Hole

Gerrit Cole had good stuff but bad command. He got the first two outs of the game, but then walked two in a row and gave up a 2-RBI double to Adam Frazier for a 2-0 Baltimore lead.

Cole settled down and got a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd, but allowed a leadoff homer to Cedric Mullins in the 3rd and it was 3-0.

Cole got the next 5 straight outs but then Gunnar Henderson hit a 404-foot homer to center off him in the 4th and it was 4-0.

“Stuff was pretty good but command was not good enough,” said Cole afterwards. “We were non-competitively out of the zone too many times losing count leverage. I thought overall they were super disciplined in their approach. Put good swings on pitches they should have. They were able to lay off and spoil good pitches as well. They battled, and had a good night.”

2. Bader Gets Yanks on Board with HR

Meanwhile the Yankee offense was mounting pressure against Baltimore 6’4 righty starter Kyle Bradish but couldn’t break through. Two walks in the 1st, a walk and a single in the 2nd, and a single in the 3rd — to no avail.

Finally Harrison Bader got the Yanks on the board leading off the 4th with a 370-foot homer to right center. Baltimore 4 NY 1. Hope.

3. Yanks Get to Bradish in 5th

The Yanks finally fully solved the 26-year-old Bradish in the 5th: leadoff singles by Oswaldo Cabrera and Gleyber Torres, and a 1-out RBI double by Anthony Rizzo. Baltimore 4 NY 2.

DJ LeMahieu singled in a run to make it 4-3.

And Harrison Bader hit a huge sac fly to left to tie the game 4-4.

4. Baltimore Gets to Cole

But Baltimore sent Cole to the showers to start the 6th. He got 2 quick strikes on both Ryan Mountcastle and Adam Frazier but they both worked the count and then singled on the 6th pitch. It worked Cole’s pitch count to 99 and he was gone with 1st and 2nd nobody out.

Ron Marinaccio came in, and struck out the first batter before allowing an infield single, then a groundout for a run and Baltimore 5-4 lead.

The run was charged to Cole — his final line 5 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs — his ERA goes to 2.58.

5. Yank Bullpen Brilliant

After that Marinaccio pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th, and Wandy Peralta pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th.

Michael King pitched a shutout 9th (allowing a walk) sending the game to the bottom of the 9th.

6. Judge HR Ties It in 9th

The Orioles brought in their ace Felix Bautista — he of the 101-MPH fastballs, wicked slider/splitter combos, and 48 strikeouts in 24 innings with a 1.50 ERA.

Bautista struck out Gleyber Torres leading off and the Yanks were looking at the abyss of a loss.

Aaron Judge took a strike, then fouled off a pitch. Bautista threw an 0-2 splitter at 87 MPH that hung over the plate, and Judge blasted it into the left field seats — tie game!

7. King Tremendous

With Yankee Stadium now Electric — Michael King came out for a 2nd inning — and struck out the first two batters in the top of the 10th — keeping the inherited runner at 2nd. He then got a soft lineout to Anthony Volpe at shortstop and NY had a chance to walk it off.

8. Volpe Walkoff Sac Fly

And in the bottom of the 10th, Harrison Bader grounded to 3rd off Bryan Baker, moving the inherited pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa to 3rd. Willie Calhoun was intentionally walked to get to the rookie Anthony Volpe — who hit a first-pitch, 96-MPH four-seam fastball deep fly to right center for the old ballgame!

Etcetera

Another star of the game was a Yankee Stadium squirrel who went viral.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401471737

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