Oriole D Snuffs Yanks & Cole’s Brilliant Performance. Baltimore 1 NY 0

July 29, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0
Aaron Judge lines out in 1st inning in return from IL. Judge walked 3 times in the game.

Gerrit Cole pitched 7 innings of masterful, shutout ball — locked in a pitchers duel with Orioles rookie ace Grayson Rodriguez, the #15 prospect in all of baseball entering 2023.

The Yankee offense launched an attack against the Oriole pen in the 8th to try to get Cole the win — but Baltimore Defense snuffed the Yankee rally: Anthony Santander robbed Anthony Volpe of a double to lead off the inning with a spectacular catch in right field, and Adam Frazier dove and snared a sure RBI single by Anthony Rizzo with 2 outs and turned it into an inning-ending out.

And then Anthony Santander hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the 9th off Tommy Kahnle to win it for Baltimore, 1-0. On a Friday night in Baltimore — the game delayed 2 hours by rain.

“Tough, tough loss, obviously,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “Held them down so well. Had a couple of opportunities. Frazier makes a great play there; Santander makes a great play in that 8th inning. and then one big swing from their side. Tough, after a long night here. But we have to get back on the horse tomorrow and get after it.”

The Yanks fall to 54-49, now 9 games back of Baltimore, 7.5 behind Tampa, 3.5 behind Toronto, and 2 behind Boston.

1. Cole Brilliant Again

Cole was brilliant again — 7 innings of 3-hit shutout ball with 5 K’s.

“Really good mix,” said Cole afterwards when asked what made him so good. “Really good execution. Good use of the off sepeed — good locations. Ben was picking good spots tonite.”

When asked if being locked in a pitcher’s duel with Grayson Rodriguez heightened his focus, he said it “”Makes you want to go; wants to make you keep battling.”

The one time Cole was in any kind of trouble was a long, lofty fly ball to right by Adam Frazier leading off the 5th that Giancarlo Stanton caught a foot from the wall. Phew.

2. Rodriguez Brilliant Too

Grayson Rodriguez came in with a 2-2 6.91 record but that belied the fact that he was the #15 prospect in all of baseball coming into the season — a 23-year-old, 6’5 righty who throws 98 MPH.

He matched Cole with a 3-hit shutout into the 7th inning.

“Obviously that’s a big arm,” said Boone of Rodriguez. “He’s coming off a good start his last time. He had enough of a presence with his breaking ball and his change up to still allow his fastball to really work, which he had going tonite.”

The Yanks almost mounted a rally against Rodriguez in the 5th, when DJ LeMahieu led off with a single, and with 2 outs (and runner, Billy McKinney, still on 1st), Anthony Volpe hit a rocket down 3rd, but Ramon Urias made a Graig Nettles-esq play on it to end the inning.

3. Judge Returns

The game featured the return of Aaron Judge from the 2-month stint on the IL due to the toe fracture. He walked 3 times, going 0-1 (a lineout in the 1st).

4. Yanks Rally in 8th Snuffed by Oriole D

The Yanks finally chased Rodriguez in the top of the 7th on a 1-out DJ LeMahieu single that upped Rodriguez’s pitch count to 97.

Billy McKinney walked off reliever Shintaro Fujinami — and the Yanks were cooking with 2 on and 1 out. But Harrison Bader hit into a 6-3 double play.

In the top of the 8th, Anthony Volpe led off against Yennier Cano with a line drive to right that had DOUBLE written all over it — but Anthony Santander made a spectacular catch on it.

Jake Bauers then singled and after a Gleyber Torres groundout, Aaron Judge walked to again put Yanks on 1st and 2nd.

Anthony Rizzo hit a shot between 1st and 2nd that had RBI SINGLE written all over it, but 2nd baseman Adam Frazier made a diving spear of the ball, and throw to 1st to end the inning.

5. Santander Walkoff

Michael King and Wandy Peralta combined for a shut out bottom of 8th.

The Yanks could do nothing against the 100-MPH head of Felix Bautista in the top of the 9th.

In the bottom of the 9th, Anthony Santander hit a 1-out, walkoff homer to right center off Tommy Kahnle for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472571

 

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