O’s get bats going too late
NEWYORK– The beginning of the Orioles’ final road trip of the season landed them at the one place they’ve actually played well this season: Yankee Stadium.
But as this Orioles team limps to the finish of the franchise’s worst season, it opened a 10-game stretch Friday against three teams positioned for the postseason.
The New York Yankees still had plenty to play for Friday night — the right to host the American League wild-card game.
The Orioles put a dent into an early six-run deficit, drawing within one run after the top of the eighth, but the Yankees extended their lead on their way to a 10-8 win over the Orioles.
The Orioles (44-109) matched their best run total this month, rallying with four runs in the eighth on two-run homers by Renato Núñez and DJ Stewart cut the New York lead to 9-8. But the Orioles bullpen kept giving runs back, as it did in the bottom of the eighth, when Paul Fry yielded a critical insurance run on Aaron Judge’s RBI double.
Orioles right-hander Yefry Ramírez (1-7) couldn’t get out of the fourth inning — further clouding whether his future is as a starter or a long reliever — as he allowed six runs over 32⁄ frames.
The Orioles entered the night having won four of six games at Yankee Stadium this year, but they came into the Bronx having lost 11 of their last 12 games on the road.
Ramírez allowed a pair of two run homers, a first-inning shot by Didi Gregorius and a fourthinning blast by Aaron Hicks onto the short porch in right. That chased Ramírez from the game in a four-run fourth.
Meanwhile, the Orioles were flummoxed by 38-year-old Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia (8-7), who held them to two runs over six innings.
Despite letting the first two base runners of the game reach base, Ramírez was one strike away from a scoreless first inning. He walked Hicks to open the game, then allowed a single to Judge, before Andrew McCutchen hit into a 5-4-3 double play.
Ramírez worked ahead of Gregorius 0-2. But Gregorius worked the count full before hitting a slider over the right-field fence on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.
In the fourth, Neil Walker lined a ball to right field that Adam Jones backpedaled on and nearly caught over his shoulder, but it popped out of his glove for a double. Gleyber Torres then hit an RBI single up the middle, stole second, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on Austin Romine’s RBI groundout.
Ramírez wouldn’t stop the damage f rom t here.