The Orioles are in second place, but the Yankees are chasing them.
Looking at the standings, we can see that Baltimore is trailing the Yankees by 0.5 games. A head-to-head matchup between the two teams would be even more interesting, as the Orioles have won five of seven games and look to be the clear favorite.
Seven weeks ago, they won 3 of 4 at Camden Yards. Then, without using either of their best remaining healthy starting pitchers, especially ace Corbin Burnes, the Orioles were limited to 2 of 3 in the Bronx. The defending AL East champions have lost 22 straight games against division opponents, their longest streak since division play began in 1969. The Yankees are 10-12 in the AL East this year.
As in Camden, the more athletic Orioles made the Yankees look slow and sluggish, winning Game 3 17-5, the most runs the Yankees have allowed since giving up 19 to Cleveland on Aug. 15, 2019.
The Yankees haven’t won any of their past five series against Baltimore dating back to last year, and this is their worst defensive series in 2024 (excluding Anthony Volpe), with Jose Trevino’s continued freeway catching becoming more of an issue.
Trevino ended up pitching in the ninth game on Thursday for a relief corps that was both a midseason tryout camp and an exacerbating disaster: Tim Hill signed on Thursday morning, gave up a three-run homer to Anthony Santander a few hours later and was on the brink of a 16-run blitz against the Yankees’ relief pitchers over those three games.
But none of those three games was more worrisome than Luis Gil’s start. Was it a bad game or did his Cinderella slipper fall off? Gil couldn’t have been a bigger liability to the Yankees, filling in for an injured Gerrit Cole and literally pitching like Gerrit Cole for 14 innings before the ace returned on Wednesday night.
It was a disastrous 15th start, extending the Yankees’ longest day of the summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere. Manager Aaron Boone said it was just a “bump in the road” for Gill, who gave up seven runs with four outs. But Boone acknowledged the Yankees are keeping a close eye on whether the right-hander, who hasn’t pitched much the past two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, is running into reality or a wall.
“I feel like I let the team down,” Gill said, but added that he feels stronger than he has at any time this season.
Gill pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in the Yankees’ only win, at Camden, on May 1. But Baltimore went after his fastball early Thursday, and while Gill’s velocity was good, he was far from under it, with 11 of 15 batters swinging at the first strike.
Baltimore scored six runs in the second inning to seal the game. Jordan Westberg singled as leadoff hitter for a 2-0 deficit. Up to that point, batters were 1-for-30 against Gill, 0-for-2.
Baltimore totaled four hits for six against Gill with runners in scoring position. Gill was just five for 48 with runners in scoring position this year. The Orioles scored seven runs with four outs, the same number of earned runs Gill had allowed in his first seven home games (40 innings) this season.
And for the first time this season, after a franchise-record 76 consecutive games, a Yankees starting pitcher failed to pitch at least four innings, exposing a relief corps that had been protected by a starting rotation that threw many innings.
Aaron Judge, who missed Wednesday’s game after being hit in the left hand in Tuesday’s series opener, hit his two hardest pitches on Thursday, a two-run homer at 110.6 mph and a one-run single at 114.2 mph. That was the end of the good news for the Yankees. Gleyber Torres also homered but committed his 11th error (second-most in the major leagues) and left the game with what the Yankees described as right groin tightness.
Suddenly, even with Cole back, the Yankees are even more depleted with Anthony Rizzo, possibly Torres and two other pitchers on the disabled list, missing five of seven games. Don’t expect the Orioles to win. They announced during the series that Kyle Bradish will need elbow surgery, the third starter this year to be out for the season, as will closer Felix Bautista.
The Yankees (51-26), Orioles (49-25) and Phillies (49-25) are all tied for the highest winning percentages in the major leagues at .662. But Baltimore came to the Bronx with a 3-2 record against Philadelphia. And Baltimore’s dominance over the Yankees continued. When they met on the same field in 2024, the Orioles outdid the Yankees in every way.
“They’re a very tough team and they dominated the first few series against us,” Boone said. “We still have a long way to go.”
The race is on, and the Yankees appear to be chasing the teams that have been behind them in the standings all year.
