The New York Yankees would host the Baltimore Orioles for the first game of this three-game series in the Bronx, as the two top teams in the American League would square off for the second time this season. Their last matchup came in the last week of April when the Yankees traveled to Baltimore, but the Orioles handled them swiftly by taking three of four games. Hoping to expand their lead in the division, Nestor Cortes would get the ball against Albert Suárez, and the southpaw dominated across six innings to guide the Yankees to victory.
Although this is a huge win for the Yankees, it comes with a massive scare as well, as Aaron Judge exited today’s game after being hit in the hand with a fastball from Albert Suárez. It was not intentional, but the Yankees are holding their breath on what could be a serious injury to the best player in the league.
Nestor Cortes Dazzles, Yankees Awaiting News on Aaron Judge
It’s hard to argue that anyone dominated more in today’s game than Nestor Cortes, who fired six innings of scoreless baseball against a tough Baltimore Orioles lineup. He struck out six batters, walked none, and allowed five hits in the contest. Cortes didn’t allow a single extra-base hit, and his ERA on the season lowered to 3.36 on the year. While the Yankees have had great starting pitching, the bouncebacks of guys like Nestor Cortes have set the tone for the rotation.
Offensively, they got a lot of production in the early innings, as Anthony Volpe delivered a two-out hit in the second inning to give them a 1-0 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish. In the following inning, a pitch hit Aaron Judge in the middle of a rally where they scored two runs on a Giancarlo Stanton single, and Gleyber Torres picked up a sacrifice fly as well.
Aaron Judge would exit the game in the inning after, with Trent Grisham coming into the game, but another part of that rally was Ben Rice picking up a hit in his MLB debut. He was taken out of the game for defensive purposes as DJ LeMahieu would go to first base and shore up their infield with a lead.
A sacrifice fly from DJ LeMahieu in the fifth inning would give the Yankees a 4-0 lead, and the bullpen would come in to try and lock down the win. Michael Tonkin and Luke Weaver fired scoreless frames, but Clay Holmes surrendered his first home run of the season in the ninth to give the Orioles some life. With a two-run blast off the bat of known Yankee killer Anthony Santander, the Orioles pulled within two in the ninth, but Holmes locked in and shut the door.
The Yankees pick up a win after an ugly series in Fenway, and they improve to 51-24 on the season with a one-game lead in the loss column and a 2.5-game lead in the American League East. They’ll have their ace Gerrit Cole make his season debut tomorrow as they hope to take the series, but they’ll have the task of facing young left-hander Cade Povich who was a highly-rated prospect in the Orioles organization.
As I write this, the updates on Aaron Judge are that he’s getting MRIs and X-rays on the hand, and there are not any updates there as Aaron Boone chose to put off any reveal on the results until doctors can read the results.