It has been an exciting and intense series between two AL East rivals in the Baltimore Orioles and the New York Yankees where the former got the extra innings win Thursday night, 7-6. Orioles manager Brandon Hyde spoke about the performance from his ball club as well as the exciting moments involving stars like Cedric Mullins and Dillon Tate.
The Orioles lost the first game of the series as they came into this hungry despite a huge boost to the Yankees in the return of their ace in Gerrit Cole. However, Baltimore would prevail despite losing a four-run lead as Hyde called it a “heck of a win” to take down New York who has the best record in the majors according to Jake Rill of MLB.com.
“That’s a big win. Things were going well, then they weren’t,” Hyde said. “Really happy with how we battled, competed. When you can give up the lead and continue to fight offensively, it shows a lot about our club. It was a heck of a win.”
A clutch outing from Cedric Mullins for Orioles
Orioles star Cedric Mullins was especially huge despite struggling for most of the first half of the season with a .193 batting average and .566 OPS. However, he would have the go-ahead RBI single that gave Baltimore a one-run lead, but because of his electric speed, he would reach home due to a throwing error after stealing third base right after.
“If Ced [Mullins] gets a single, a lot of times it’s a double,” Hyde said. “If Ced gets on second base, he’s got an opportunity to steal third base. There’s a lot of things that he can do on the bases for us.”
For Mullins, he would talk about how he experienced the same feeling going into Thursday's game as he had when the Orioles had a grueling series against the Philadelphia Phillies last week where they lost the first, but came back to win the next two games. What had helped Mullins and Baltimore was that they came in to the series against the Yankees with a “fresh mindset.”
“I came in, talked to the guys, I was like, ‘I have that feeling like I had after the loss against Philly at home,’” Mullins said. “‘Just come back at it tomorrow with a fresh mindset and be ready to get after it.’”
Dillon Tate gets the save for Baltimore against New York
Going back to the game, the Orioles would have a two-run lead heading in to the bottom of the tenth inning where they initially had a save opportunity in the ninth, but Craig Kimbrel would blow the opportunity. Baltimore would then give the ball to Dillon Tate where besides giving up a run, he would earn the save by the end of it.
“Incredible,” Tate said. “It’s always a team effort every night, but having guys like that definitely makes it a lot easier out there.”
It would end up being Tate's second save in his career as funny enough, the first was against the Yankees in their park back in Oct. 2 of 2022. What would help him get the save was the second out recorded by Orioles' star catcher in Adley Rutschman who threw a laser at second base to catch Oswald Cabrera from stealing second.
“That was the throw of the year right there,” Hyde said.
Orioles on rivalry with Yankees, overcoming hurdles
There is no doubt that while a rivalry has already been present between Baltimore and New York because they are in the same division, it was amplified in the first game where Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres were hit by pitches. Even the Yankees expressed their displeasure after and the favor was returned Wednesday as Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser were hit as well.
“Getting hit is unfortunately a terrible part of the game, and I don’t think anybody wants to see anybody get hit,” Hyde said via MLB.com. “I don’t want to see their guys get hit. I don’t want to see our guys get hit. When something like that happens, because it’s probably New York, it’s a little bit bigger of a deal. But you just don’t want to see that happen.”
Rivalry or not, the Orioles are focused one thing and it is to have another successful season as they did last year where they won their first divisional title since 2014. However, they have injuries of their own, but Mullins still believes that they are solid and have enough to achieve success.
“We’re a good ball club,” Mullins said. “The injuries are definitely unfortunate, but we’ve got to continue to find a way to get wins on the board, and it’s a lot of talented guys on this team that can make that happen.”
At any rate, the Orioles are currently 48-25 which puts them second in the AL East behind the Yankees who are 51-25. The rubber match between the two teams will take place Thursday evening.
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