BALTIMORE — After the New York Yankees failed to capitalize on the runner at second base automatically provided to them in the top of Thursday’s 10th inning, the Orioles avoided the same fate.
Cedric Mullins’ walk-off sacrifice fly gave Baltimore a 4-3 victory to earn a four-game series split with New York. Per league rules, Ramón Urías, the batter retired last in the bottom of the ninth, automatically started the bottom of the 10th at second base. He moved to third on a Pat Valaika bunt and scored easily when Mullins lofted a flyball to center field.
The Yankees had attempted a similar order of operations in the top of the 10th against left-hander Tanner Scott, but leadoff man Tyler Wade struck out attempting to bunt. Scott kept automatic runner Gio Urshela at second by fielding a comebacker, then, after an intentional walk, recorded a traditional strikeout, bouncing back from consecutive outings in which he walked the bases loaded.
The game would not have reached extras had the Yankees not managed a two-out run against Orioles closer César Valdez in the top of the ninth. Valdez issued a pair of walks to put himself in trouble and nearly worked his way out of it before Gleyber Torres doubled to the left-center, but the Orioles (11-14) caught a break when the ball hopped over the wall, prompting the potential go-ahead run to hold at third base.
Up top
When Austin Hays first broke into the major leagues, Darren O’Day was a reliable member of the backend of the Orioles’ bullpen. By the time Mullins arrived a year later, O’Day was fewer than two weeks removed from being traded away.
The duo of dynamic young outfielders paired up Thursday to plate a go-ahead, eighth-inning run off O’Day. Mullins walked to open the inning, with O’Day repeatedly trying to hold Baltimore’s leadoff man at first base with pickoff attempts. When he finally threw home, Hays laced a first-pitch double to left-center field at what Statcast measured at 107.9 mph, scoring Mullins from first base.
Although Hays advanced to third on an error on the play, O’Day kept him there by retiring the next three Orioles. That included Trey Mancini, who recorded three hits and drove in Baltimore’s first two runs, including a game-tying home run in the sixth. Mancini also plated a run with a single in the first after Mullins singled off New York left-hander Jordan Montgomery and went to second on Hays’ sacrifice bunt. Mancini is batting .375 in his past 11 games, and the top three members of the Orioles’ lineup recorded five of the team’s seven hits to go with four RBIs, three runs scored and a walk Thursday.
Hays and Mullins were also hefty contributors to the Orioles’ only other wins of the homestand, with Hays homering twice Sunday against the Oakland Athletics and Mullins doing the same Monday in a series-opening victory over New York (11-14).
Plead the fifth
Behind right-hander Jorge López’s four shutout innings, the Orioles carried a 1-0 lead into the fifth. But that inning once again hampered López.
In his five starts, he has faced 16 batters in the fifth inning this season. Eleven of them have reached, and all of those have scored.
Two of those runs came Thursday when López allowed a single and a walk to begin the fifth. Behind him, right-hander Adam Plutko allowed a single by Giancarlo Stanton to load the bases, then got the next two outs with a shallow flyball and a strikeout. But that good work was spoiled when Rougned Odor singled through the right side to score both of the runners López left for Plutko.
Continuing a careerlong trend, López didn’t allow a hit the first time the Yankees’ order, then promptly allowed singles to the first two batters he faced a second time. New York didn’t make him pay until the fifth, an inning in which he now has a 59.40 ERA in 2021.
