New York Yankees Recap: O’s avoid the sweep in heartbreaking loss for the Yanks

Tonight at 6:35 pm, the New York Yankees met the Baltimore Orioles as the Yankees went for the O’s sweep. The Yankees shut out the O’s in the first game, 7-0, and in the second game, they won 7-2. In this game tonight, the last Yankee starter to start this season, Jameson Taillon, made his Major League debut in pinstripes. Taillon faced the O’s ace John Mean. Mean pitched 7 scoreless innings in his first start against the Boston Red Sox. The games started under sunny skies with a Yankee Stadium temperature was in the high 60’s. The New York Yankees lost the game in the eleventh inning 4-3.

Jameson Taillon took the mound to face Cedric Mullins, the O’s best hitter. Mullins struck out, Mancini ground out to third, and Santander popped out for a perfect first 1-2-3 inning for Taillon. At the bottom, LeMahieu faced John Means. DJ had a long fly out to right-center. Gleyber Torres walked. Aaron Hicks took the first pitch for 404′ out in center. Giancarlo Stanton singled, moving Torres to third base. Clint Frazier, with two outs, flew out to Mullin on the warning track to end the inning. No score.

Ryan Mountcastle led off against Taillon, and he flew out to Hicks in center. Maikal Franco popped out to the catcher. Pedro Severino ground out directly to LeMahieu to end the inning and gave Taillon his second 1-2-3 inning. Jay Bruce led off the bottom by striking out. Sanchez struck out, and Gio Urshela line out to third. After 2, no score.

Rio Ruiz led off the third, flying out to Brett Gardner. Freddie Galvis popped out for a long run for Urshela. Roman Urias struck out for a perfect game for Taillon through three innings of work. Brett Gardner led off the bottom with a lead-off single. LeMahieu singled up the center for two on and no outs. Torres struck out. Hicks singled up the middle, driving in Gardner as the Yankee struck first with the one-run lead. Stanton lined drove into a double play to end the inning, but the Yankees got a run in. Yankees 1 O’s 0.

Cedric Mullion led off with a homer to right-center off Taillon to tie up the game. Mancini ground out. Santander homered to center. Mountcastle struck out. Franco struck out, but the O’s picked up two runs. At the bottom, Clint Frazier struck out. Bruce tapped back to the pitcher two away. Sanchez worked a walk. Urshela singled to right, and Sanchez moved to second. Brett Gardner stepped to the plate with two on and two outs. He popped for the final out, leaving two Yankees on base. Orioles 2 Yankees 1.

Taillon out for the fifth inning faced Severino, and struck him out. Ruiz singled. Galvis struck out for Taillion’s seventh strikeout, and that was the night for Taillon. Nick Nelson replaced him. Ruiz struck out, ending the half. At the bottom, LeMahieu tapped out to short. Torres blooped a single out to left field. Hicks struck out. Stanton hit sharply to center for single, moving Torres to second and a pitching change for the O’s. He was replaced by Dillon Tate, who faced Clint Frazier with two on and two outs. Frazier ground out to end the inning, leaving two on base. Orioles 2 New York Yankees 1.

Mullins started the sixth by grounding out to LeMahieu. Mancini lined out to short. Santander struck out as Nelson put down all 4 of the O’s he faced. At the bottom of the sixth, Bruce led off by grounding out to first. Sanchez doubled down the left-field line. Urshela flew out to left, but Sanchez made third base. That did it for Tate, replaced by Tanner Scott. Gardner went down on strikes. Orioles 2 Yankees 1.

Darren O’Day pitched the top of the seventh inning. Mountcastle flew out to center. Franco struck out. Severino tapped back to O’Day, ending the half. After the seventh inning stretch LeMahieu at the plate he singled to center. Torres lined out to right field. Hicks struck out after a questionable call. Stanton also struck out to end the quick seventh.

In the eighth inning, Jonathan Loaisgia came out to pitch. Ruiz ground out to Torres. Galvis bounced back to Loaisiga for the second out. Urias went down on strikes. Yankee pitchers had put down 11 O’s in a row. At the bottom, Frazier faced Shawn Armstrong and ground out to third base. Bruce ground out to second, and Gary Sanchez hit the ball hard to left but only got a single. Mike Tauchman came in to run for Sanchez. Urshela doubled as Tauchman came sliding home to tie up the game. O’s made a pitching change to Valdez. Gardner singled, moving Urshela to third base. DJ LeMahieu ground out to second, but the Yankees tied the game at 2.

At the top of the ninth, Aroldis Chapman came in to hold down the O’s. Mullins struck out. Mancini stuck out, and Santander completed the strikeout of the side for Chapman. At the bottom, Gleyber Torres ground out to short. Hicks flew out to Mullins in center. Giancarlo Stanton ground to short as well. With extra innings and a man on second coming up, the score was New York Yankees 2 O’s 2.

At the tenth with the rule, the inning started with Santander on second base. Mountcastle grounded to third. Franco under review was out at first. Severino reached on a huge error by Torres, Santander scores for the O’s lead. Ruiz went down on a strike, but the O’s held the lead in the half. Clint Frazier took to the plate with Tyler Wade pinch-running with last licks on the line for Stanton at second, he struck out. Jay Bruce also struck out. With two outs, it was Kyle Higashioka’s chance to save the Yankees. He singled to tie the game again, this time at 3 runs apiece. Gio Urshela struck out, but the Yankees tied the game. Yankees 3 O’s 3.

At the top of the eleventh, with Green still on the mound, Galvis bunted, moving Ruiz to third base. Urias blooped a single in front of Gardner, and Ruiz scored to give the O’s the one-run lead again. Mullins walked, and the Yankee brought in Luis Cessa to replace Chad Green. Mancini, with two on and one out, walked loading the bases. Santander struck out for the second out. McKenna in for Mountcastle struck out, getting Cessa out of a bases-loaded jam. Brett Gardner led off the bottom of the eleven with Urshela at second. Gardner had a sac bunt moving Urshela to third. LeMahieu hit, and Urshela got called out about 6′ from home plate for the Yankee loss. Yankee coach Niven never should have sent Urshela.

The winner was Valdez and the loser Green. The final score was Orioles 4 and the Yankees 2. With the number of hits the Yankees got in the game, they could have won it. Taillon pitched really well in his first start. The horrible error by Torres probably lost the game for the Yankees. However, to be fair to Torres, a better first baseman might have caught that ball that bounced 12′ in front of him. The New York Yankees tied it up at the bottom of the tenth inning but couldn’t get the job done in the eleventh.