Old man and former Ace Carlos Carrasco had a tough 2nd inning — his slider was ‘backing up’ aka not working — and an early 2-0 Yankee lead went with it as the Orioles won 5-4 on Wednesday night in Baltimore.
Aaron Judge hit a 2-run homer in the 1st inning — his 10th of the year — to give NY a 2-0 lead. However, Carrasco allowed 4 runs in the bottom of the 2nd — on HR’s to Ryan Mountcastle and Ramon Urias and an RBI single to Adley Rutschman — to give Baltimore a 4-2 lead.
The 38-year-old Carrasco settled down to pitch a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, and left in the 4th with 1 out and a runner on.
It was actually a couple of walks by Tim Hill and an error by Anthony Volpe in the 5th that ultimately doomed the Yanks — allowing a 5th Baltimore run to score on an ensuing groundout.
NY got a run in the top of the 5th on a Paul Goldschmidt HR to cut the lead to 4-3 at the time, and another run on an RBI single by Aaron Judge in the 7th to make it 5-4 — but that’s how it ended as Baltimore relievers Bryan Baker and Felix Bautista threw smoke in the 8th and 9th.
Judge went 3-3 in the game with a walk and the HR, and is now batting .427 with a .521 OBP, .761 slugging pct, and 1.282 OPS.
“My slider backed up a lot,” said Carrasco afterwards. “That’s when I got hit — the first 2 runs, the HR — supposed to throw it down and away, it just came back right in the middle (of the plate).”
When asked what it’s like when his slider deserts him, Carrasco said “It feels weird because that’s one of my main pitches. So I went to my changeup to try to get outs. My slider is really important, but I couldn’t find it. I was behind. I was trying to get ahead with the slider like I always do but I couldn’t locate it.”
Carrasco said pitching coach Matt Blake told him he was rushing it a little bit and he agreed that’s why he lost it.
NY falls to 18-13; Baltimore takes 2 of 3 in the series and improves to 12-18.
1. Judge 2-Run HR in the 1st
The Yanks had just hit 3 HR’s to start the game the day before — started by Trent Grisham — and they were at it again as Grisham ripped a 1-out single off Baltimore starter Cade Povich, and Aaron Judge hit a MISSILE to center — traveling 426 feet for a 2-0 Yankee lead.
426-ft No-Doubter. #AllRise ? pic.twitter.com/YfSv71SRDJ
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 30, 2025
2. Carrasco’s Slider ‘Backs Up’ in the 2nd
Carrasco has been overall pretty good for the Yanks this year — and just pitched 5 beautiful innings in his prior start. And 38 isn’t necessarily that old for a pitcher — some former aces did well at that age or older — for example Tommy John. A reason for hope.
Carrasco allowed 2 singles in the bottom of the 1st, but struck out Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano on sliders. Things were looking good for the Yanks.
Until the 2nd — when Jackson Holliday led off with a single and Ryan Mountcastle hit a 395-foot bomb to left off an 83-MPH slider that tied the game 2-2.
Ramon Urias followed with a 1-out HR to left off a 90-MPH fastball and it was 3-2 Baltimore.
Gunnar Henderson followed with a 2-out single, then stole 2nd and scored when Adley Rutschman singled to right. Baltimore 4 NY 2.
Carrasco rebounded with a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd, and struck out Urias in the 4th after allowing a leadoff single. So it wasn’t so bad an outing.
3. Goldschmidt HR in 5th Makes It 4-3 Balt
Paul Goldschmidt homered to center in the bottom of the 5th — his 2nd homer of the year — to make it a 4-3 game. Goldschmidt went 1-5 in the game and is at .356 (.403 OBP).
Goldy goes yard ? pic.twitter.com/v6vl6VDKW0
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 30, 2025
4. Hill & Volpe Allow Run in 5th
Tim Hill got the last 2 outs of the 4th, but in the 5th he walked the first 2 batters. Anthony Volpe then made an error on a Laureano grounder to load the bases with nobody out.
A groundout by Jackson Holliday scored a run to make it Baltimore 5 NY 3.
Fernando Cruz came in and struck out Montcastle and got a fly out to end the inning. But damage done.
5. Judge RBI Single Makes it 5-4 in 7th
Oswald Peraza led off the 7th with a walk against Keegan Akin, went to 2nd on a groundout, went to 3rd on a fly out, and scored on a clutch, 2-out single by Aaron Judge off Yennier Cano — pulling the Yanks to within 5-4.
Judge knocks in a run ? pic.twitter.com/Gybu8zsTDp
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 1, 2025
6. Yank Bullpen — Including Devin — Great
After getting the last 2 outs of the 5th, Fernando Cruz pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 6th, striking out the side with his FILTHY splitter.
Fernando Cruz, Filthy Splitters. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/wn5AWzb4Ao
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 1, 2025
Devin Williams pitched the 7th — and looked great — getting a groundout, issuing a walk, then getting a strike-out-throw-em-out double play, with assist from Austin Wells.
Strike ’em out. Throw ’em out. pic.twitter.com/CqaxQBWJ7E
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 1, 2025
Mark Leiter Jr. worked around 2 singles to pitch a shutout 8th.
7. Baker & Bautista Shut the Door
Meanwhile Anthony Volpe walked to lead off the top of the 8th against 6’6 fire-balling righty reliever Bryan Baker — but never got to 2nd as Baker used his 97-MPH four-seam fastball and 85-MPH slider to retire the next 3 batters: Austin Wells on a line out to 2nd, and strike outs of Cody Bellinger and Jasson Dominguez to end the inning.
And so it was to the 9th against Ace reliever Felix Bautista — who got foul out (of Peraza), groundout (of Goldschmidt), and strike out (of Grisham) for the old ballgame.
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