Judge homers twice and Orioles lose decisive game of series (updated)

One fly ball should have been caught. Two others were destined to make a safe landing from the moment they left the bat.

Tyler Wells was burned three times this afternoon at various degrees in his first start of the season, which resulted in a 5-3 loss to the Yankees at Camden Yards.

Adley Rutschman had four hits, including his second home run, but the Orioles dropped the series and are 4-5 while waiting for the last-place Athletics to arrive for four games.

Wells allowed four runs and six hits with no walks and six strikeouts in six innings. He retired the side in order in the second, fourth and sixth, and threw 61 of his 89 pitches for strikes. Kyle Gibson is the only other starter to record an out in the sixth.

"I love the way Tyler throws," Rutschman said. "He's a competitor, he does stuff the right way and he's a great teammate. I know he's going to go out next time and compete and do his thing."

Meanwhile, former Orioles Rule 5 pick Nestor Cortes held the Orioles to four hits, including three Rutschman singles, in 5 1/3 innings and left with a 4-0 lead and two runners in scoring position after Ryan Mountcastle doubled.

Anthony Santander doubled on reliever Albert Abreu's first pitch – the Orioles were 4-for-23 with runners in scoring position in the series before his at-bat – and Cortes was charged with two runs.

Cortes didn’t allow a run to the Orioles last season in three starts totaling 18 1/3 innings. Batters other than Rutschman were 1-for-16 today with two walks.

Aaron Judge cleared the center field fence with two outs in the third, an inning in which Wells struck out three batters. Judge also led off the eighth with another home run, this one against Logan Gillaspie for a 5-2 lead.

Judge has 37 career homers against the Orioles, the most against any team, and 21 in Baltimore, his most in any visiting city.

Eleven of the home runs have come in his last 18 games against the Orioles, and 22 in the last 40. Nine of his 28 career multi-homer games are against the Orioles.

It’s bound to happen. Judge just needed a third game of the series to get back to bashing business.

Franchy Cordero, a late camp cut in Sarasota who opted out of his contract and signed with the Yankees, hit his second home run of the series in the fifth inning, a two-run shot after Jose Trevino’s leadoff single. The ball landed on the flag court in right field and gave New York a 4-0 lead.

On the same day that the Orioles optioned outfielder Kyle Stowers to Triple-A.

The timing also stung.

"I felt like I was in control of all my pitches," Wells said. "I think that was just a bad sequence to Judge, but the past has shown he's done well against me. But the Franchy Cordero one I think was definitely a mistake.

"The name of the game is trying to go out there for as long as I can and give up as few runs as I can, all while making sure no one gets a free pass. Overall, happy with it. Think that's a good step in the right direction, especially this early in the season."

"Besides two pitches, I thought he was outstanding," said manager Brandon Hyde. "The cutter to Cordero and a guy who hit 60-something homers last year, a fastball up and away. Six good innings. We lost a ball there in the sun the first inning, but he had really good stuff. He filled up the strike zone with all his pitches. Just a couple mistakes."

Asked about Cordero in the series, Hyde said, "We made a couple terrible pitches to him, but give Franchy credit. He had a great spring for us, hit the ball well. Put two good swings on balls that weren't located very well."

Wells didn’t allow a run, hit or walk in his emergency relief appearance in Texas after Jonah Heim’s line drive slammed off Kyle Bradish’s right foot, leading to a stint on the 10-day injured list. The second batter he faced today, Judge, singled into left field.

Two more singles followed, including Anthony Rizzo’s pop up that fell near the left field line. Austin Hays pulled up as Gunnar Henderson battled the sun and couldn’t track it.

Statcast calculated the expected batting average (xBA) at .000.

Giancarlo Stanton singled into right field for a 1-0 lead, but Gleyber Torres grounded into a 6-4-3 double play on the next pitch.

Cedric Mullins made a leaping catch to rob Rizzo of a home run leading off the sixth.

Rutschman singled in the first, fourth and sixth innings, and he led off the eighth with a 408-foot home run to right field off Jimmy Cordero – 108.3 mph off the bat. Rutschman has reached base 27 times in 12 career games against the Yankees.

"I just try to go about my process the same every day," Rutschman said, downplaying his achievements. "Try not to look at results as much as I can. I'm attacking every day the same as far as my swing goes."

"I speak very highly of him all the time," Wells said, "as a person, as a player. To be able to go out there and do that and do the same thing he did on Opening Day, it's pretty incredible and he's a special talent."

"He's a hitter first and then the power's secondary, but he's got a ton of power, also," Hyde said. "He's got great barrel control. You've seen him get a ton of opposite-field hits already this season, and he's got the ability to hit the ball out of the ballpark, also. He's got really good strike zone discipline, he understands when to be aggressive, he battles with two strikes, takes close pitches and understands how to take an at-bat. Pretty fun to watch a young player in his first full year do what he's doing."

The next two batters struck out in the first after Rutschman’s single. Santander surrendered a strike, his second of the at-bat, by coming out of his stance as Cortes delivered the pitch. He didn’t signal for time but objected to plate umpire Bill Miller counting it.

Santander struck out swinging and tossed his bat and helmet. Miller walked away from Santander, who also could have been tossed, and met Cortes along the line to check his glove.

Hays flied to deep left field leading off the second, a home run before the wall was moved back. A 367-foot fly ball at 106 mph with a 37-degree launch angle and a .650 xBA. Hard to swallow.

Mountcastle choked out a few choice words in the fourth after his fly ball that traveled 363 feet to left field also was caught at the edge of the track. An exit velo of 106.6 mph with a launch angle of 41 degrees.

The new dimensions will cause a player to toss back his head in frustration as he nears the bag.

Cortes walked Santander in the fourth, but Hays and Ramón Urías flied out. Henderson walked in the fifth and James McCann grounded into a double play in his first game with the Orioles.

The long-awaited breakthrough arrived in the sixth, but Abreu struck out Hays and Urías following Santander’s RBI double.

Hyde sent up two pinch-hitters in the seventh. Adam Frazier drew a leadoff walk and stole second base, and Terrin Vavra struck out. A third catcher was needed with McCann removed for Vavra, allowing Anthony Bemboom to escape the bench.

The roster versatility also showed. Frazier played second base, Urías moved to third and Henderson shifted to short.

The Orioles have lost two series so far, to the Red Sox and Yankees. To division rivals. Not how they want to come out of the gate while more determined to make the playoffs.

"It's still early in the year, so can't really put too much of a price tag on it," Wells said. "From the very get-go, we're trying to just focus on going out there, winning a game every day, not trying to focus on the big picture at that point in time. Just keep it as small as we can."

Said Hyde: "We're playing some close games. I feel like we're making some mistakes that we can't do against good clubs. Boston, we could have won two there, and then here, just some mistakes on the mound. We're not playing our best defense. But we've got a long way to go, and it's a lot of year left and we're going to keep playing these guys a lot more."

* Left-hander DL Hall made his second start today with Triple-A Norfolk and allowed one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings with two walks and six strikeouts. He threw 78 pitches, 49 for strikes.

Jordan Westburg hit his second home run and Greg Cullen hit his first.

Joey Krehbiel earned his second save and hasn’t allowed a run or hit in three appearances.