BALTIMORE – Brandon Hyde, the former minor league catcher turned manager, was heading toward the New York Yankees home, digging in his heels for more power, driving his legs, but was interrupted. is an actor who started the day to celebrate his 25th birthday. birthday and spent it aiming to extinguish, not light, any fireworks.
“I thought it was a great birthday,” Austin Wells would say later Friday night, the chaos at the end of the Yankees’ 4-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles safely in the rearview.
“I was trying to minimize the damage.”
That’s a fitting sentiment for the bench-clearing frenzy that sent the bottom of the ninth inning — and for a Yankees team that is striking fear among its fans.
They had lost or split their last eight straight since mid-June when they entered Camden Yards looking to take the first of Baltimore’s two-game sweep of the American League East before the teams stopped for the break. of All-Star Sunday.
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They cut that deficit on Friday, and deliberately threw kerosene into what has become a fierce competition on the field and the spice that comes from it.
“The intensity has been like that all season,” said Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, the winning pitcher Friday.
“So, I expect it to remain stable.”
The fire was ignited last month in the Bronx, when the star of the Yankees Aaron Judge was hit in the hand by the pitch, but avoided a serious injury, the night of the second baseman Gleyber Torres was also wearing it.
Yankees shortstop Nestor Cortes responded by hitting Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson; a day later, reliever Victor Gonzalez poked Henderson in the shoulder.
The high road was taken that week in the Bronx, and the teams met in Baltimore with the Orioles holding a 5-2 advantage in the season series. It seemed like all the world the Yankees could ask for was a hitter, to the point where Cole was playing his best game after recovering from an elbow injury and Judge hitting his game. the 33rd is business as usual.
Then it rained in time for the ninth inning, a sweltering 81-degree night. Yankees closer Clay Holmes hit Jordan Westburg for the first out,but when he tried to throw to the front door pitcher to hit left-handed hitter Heston Kjerstad, he missed it. .
The 97 mph fastball flew up and in and rookie Kjerstad had no energy to move, sitting still enough that the ball hit the bottom of his helmet. He sat down in the batter’s box for a few seconds, stood up, was examined by trainer Brian Ebel and hesitated to go forward before wandering to the dugout; he will be in concussion protocol Saturday.
Holmes was determined to express his opinion that there was no plot. Hyde didn’t seem to accept that sentiment.
Someone – a coach, a player, otherwise – said something from the Yankees field and Hyde, his rabbit ears wanted to hear such a comment, turned and walked quickly to the Yankees.
“I kept going back and hearing things from their dugout, so I reacted the way I did,” Hyde said.
And added confusion to the pennant race.
Hyde didn’t advance past the left-handed batter’s box when Wells – in the game only because Jose Trevino injured his quadriceps – dug in.
There was a pit around them, bulls running in and words – “You have to be there (to know),” the Judge said with a grin – exchanged.
“Any time a player gets hit in the head, the emotions get high,” said Orioles shortstop Austin Hays, who replaced Kjerstad on the bases. “I don’t think Clay was trying to hit Heston in the head right there. Maybe he was just trying to get in, through the hole in the front door and missed.
“That ball hit Heston very hard. I hope he is doing well. We will be doing prayers tonight. Anytime you see players getting hit on the arms and head, it’s dangerous and guys can miss games for that.
Emotions are always high when you see a guy get hit from above. I think that’s what you saw there.”
There was little argument from either side of that.
“It made perfect sense, I think,” Cole said. “Man, it’s wet outside tonight. Anyone out there knows that baseball was hard to catch tonight. The guy was hit on the head.
“So, it’s understandable that Brandon was upset. And he protects his players.”
The judge said: “I am their boss. He was their chief executive for several years. He always has the back of his guys, so I think he will stand up for his team.
I had a lot of respect for him and what he was doing. So I think there is time to wait. “…
‘I thought you were like our ace’
The series resumes on Saturday, but Hyde is almost certainly not there to prove it. A suspension is possible in Major League Baseball, and managers cannot appeal such a discipline.
If bad blood is still flowing, bench coach Fredi Gonzalez will oversee it. But the group’s larger goals may outweigh any overt displays of machismo or vigilante justice.
“I do not think so. It’s too much of a play to get caught up in that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to play well, we’ve got to win ballgames.
“It’s like seeing them. I hope, we will go out to play baseball tomorrow. ”
They will have a hard time keeping up with Friday’s art. Cole, the Cy Young Award winner who made his fifth start of the season, confirmed that last month was indeed his spring training, strengthening his arm after an elbow scare in before forcing him to step aside.
He saw the sixth inning and the 100 mark for the first time this year. He battled back from a 3-0 deficit to ground out Henderson on a curveball to drop the tying run in the third to start a streak of 11 consecutive retires.
He pushed his fastball to 99 mph, ended his night with a tricky returner trap and left a tired bullpen with just nine pitches.
“I thought he looked like an ace,” Boone said. “There was an edge to him, but he was having fun. There was joy in the way he played.
“He is one of the great pitchers of his generation. He is an ace and he likes challenges, he likes competition. It was great to see him compete that time. ”
And goodness, did the Yankees need that.
Their pitching was excellent in the first month of the season, then rookie Luis Gil took the torch in May, winning AL honors of the month. However when Cole returned, they entered.
Gil? He has a 7.00 ERA over the past six, after a 0.60 mark over the past six. Carlos Rodon has a 10.57 ERA in his last five starts, after a 14-run start with a 2.93 ERA. Not surprisingly, the Yankees were 11-3 at his best, 0-5 at his worst.
Something that boils
Yet the Orioles are down badly, even now. They were swept at home this week for the first time in three years, by the Chicago Cubs, no less. Friday, they handed the ball to Cade Povich, a lefty making his seventh major league start.
“I think we’ll find out in the first game. His first innings was very difficult,” Hyde said before the game. “He had a problem with his command.”
You can say. Povich walked five batters in his 5⅓-inning outing, giving up Judge’s grand slam over the left-field wall. The Orioles learned; Judge golfed an 0-2 curveball over the fence but saw one strike in four other plate appearances, all on walks.
Baltimore’s offense is no better. The Orioles are hitting .182 (13 for 82) with runners in scoring position in 10 games this month, and have been unable to stretch their lead over the Yankees to more than three games even though New York lost seven of nine.
Now, on to game one. Someone will have a one-game lead going into the break, and both teams are looking to clinch playoff tickets.
Who will be the champion of the East will not be decided for almost three months. The next step comes on Saturday, probably in a quieter place.
“I know we have a few of their boys who are getting hit by games. They caught us,” said the Judge.
“It’s almost cooked there.”
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