Aaron Judge, Anthony Volpe propel Yankees past Orioles despite Gerrit Cole’s rough night
Just before the Yankees began a three-game series with the second-place Orioles, Aaron Boone emphasized that he believes the American League East rival is for real.
“They’re a really good team,” Boone said when asked about Baltimore, a consistent basement dweller not too long ago. The Yankees’ manager went on to describe a “frontline offense” while also praising the Orioles’ defense, running and pitching. “They’re legit,” Boone continued. “They’re a force to be reckoned with.
“They’re a problem.”
That they certainly were on Tuesday, especially for Gerrit Cole. All of the O’s runs were charged to the ace in the series opener, yet the Yankees still managed a 6-5 win after 10 innings.
The comeback wouldn’t have been possible without the red-hot Aaron Judge, who provided ninth-inning heroics when he crushed a game-tying homer off Orioles closer Felix Bautista.
“That’s not good-looking odds there when you’re 0-2 to one of the best closers right now,” Boone said. “Fortunately, he left a split up and [Judge] didn’t miss it. But yeah, it’s remarkable. I mean, he’s the best player in the world right now and he continues to show you why all the time.”
Then came Anthony Volpe, whose 10th-inning, walk-off sacrifice fly gave the Yankees a win against a team leading them in the division — and spared Cole following a poor performance.
“I wanted the opportunity,” Volpe said, “and I was excited.”
Sandwiched between the pivotal runs was a leaping catch by Volpe, which got the Yankees out of the top of the 10th unscathed. Judge and Anthony Rizzo, meanwhile, celebrated Volpe’s first career walk-off by dumping a cooler on a rookie they’ve been mentoring.
“Rizzo and I were pretty excited,” Judge said. “We couldn’t let him get off without a little bit of water.”
Long before that, the scoring started in the first when Adam Frazier capitalized on a pair of two-out walks with a two-run double off Cole. The Orioles added two more runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively, when Cedric Mullins and Gunnar Henderson each hit solo home runs with Cole on the mound.
Baltimore plated a fifth run in the sixth inning thanks to a fielder’s choice. Ron Marinaccio was in at that point, but the run went to Cole after he departed with two on and no out.
“Stuff was pretty good, but command was not good enough,” Cole said. “I thought that we were just non-competitive out of the zone too many times, losing count leverage. And I thought overall they were super disciplined in their approach and put good swings on pitches that they should have, and they were able to lay off good pitches and spoil good pitches as well. They battled and had a good night.”
Cole recorded the 2,000th strikeout of his career when Jorge Mateo fanned in the second, becoming the third-fastest to ever achieve the milestone in terms of innings pitched and games played. He joined some elite company in doing so.
While Cole called the milestone “a pretty special accomplishment,” his overall outing left him “pretty depressed” until Judge’s homer. Cole only struck out the two batters he needed to reach that round number, and he walked three while permitting six hits and five earned over 99 pitches.
Cole also offered a succinct “no” when asked if there was an issue with his thumb. YES Network cameras showed him tending to it pregame.
The Yankees battled to pick Cole up, starting with a Harrison Bader solo shot in the fourth. The fifth inning also included an RBI double from Rizzo, an RBI single from DJ LeMahieu and a sacrifice fly from Bader, which tied the game at four at that point.
The Yankees had another chance to tie the game at five in the seventh, but a questionable decision to bunt dashed those hopes.
With runners on the corners and one out, LeMahieu tapped a Yennier Cano pitch right back to the mound. Gleyber Torres, the runner on third, broke for the plate, but Cano fielded the ball with ease before flipping it home. The toss beat Torres in plenty of time, and ultimately killed the Bombers’ chances of rallying against one of the best relievers in baseball.
Had it not been for Judge and Volpe in the late innings — and the bullpen, including two scoreless innings from Michael King to close it out — the Yankees would have lost in frustrating fashion. Instead, they’ll look to secure a series win on Wednesday.
“That’s just, I feel like, how we’ve been playing the last couple of weeks,” Volpe said of the Yankees’ fight. “No one flinched, no one blinked.”
The second game of this divisional matchup features Nestor Cortes and Tyler Wells on the mound. The left-handed Cortes, who owns a 5.21 ERA this season, is coming off a bounce-back start, allowing two earned runs over six innings against the Blue Jays on May 18.
Wells, meanwhile, has a 2.94 ERA entering Wednesday’s game. The righty has enjoyed a career year up to this point, though Judge has thrived against Wells in the past.
The reigning MVP homered off the Orioles starter on April 9. Wells also gave up two of Judge’s record-setting 62 dingers last year on July 22.
Clarke Schmidt will start Thursday’s series finale for the Yankees, while veteran Kyle Gibson will take the ball for Baltimore.
