Orioles bats quieted, Hyde ejected in 4-1 loss to Yankees (updated)

The Orioles traded a National League Central opponent tonight for one in the American League East. They had won 73 percent of their division games this year. But even that wasn’t enough to get their offense going again.

After scoring two runs in being swept by the Cubs, the Orioles ended their scoreless innings streak tonight but extended a losing streak to four.

Gerrit Cole allowed one run on 106 pitches over six frames as the New York Yankees beat the Orioles 4-1 in front of 39,566 at Camden Yards in the opener of a three-game series.

But what happened in the last of the ninth will be the lasting memory of this night. Yankees closer Clay Holmes hit Heston Kjerstad with a pitch in the batting helmet and a few minutes later both dugouts emptied as O's manager Brandon Hyde had words with someone in the visiting dugout.

"I was walking back and I hear stuff from their dugout," Hyde said. "So I just reacted the way I did. Saw what they were pointing at me and the whole thing, so just reacted the way I did.

"I'm reacting to their coaches, so just reacted the way I did."

Hyde was asked what he heard that got him upset.

"It's an emotional time at that time," he said. "My guy just got hit right in the ear. I'm upset, and then I see their dugout, and they're waving at me and yelling at me. I just didn't appreciate it at the time."

There was no punches thrown that could be seen, as the bullpen ran in too and Hyde was ejected. That was the only ejection.

Clearly emotions carried over from the last series when each team had batters get plunked.

Said Holmes via YES Network: "You know it was one of those things unfortunate. You are never trying to hit someone in the head. I hope Heston is OK from that."

Added Aaron Judge via YES Network: "There have been some balls back and forth hitting guys thoughtout the season playing with the Orioles, kind of got heated."

Austin Hays pinch ran for Kjerstad and Hyde said Kjerstad was going through some tests.

"It is scary," he said. "Never want to see anybody get hit, especially above the neck, so we are hoping for the best."

Judge was asked if he thought the situation would carry over into Saturday's game

"I don't think so," he said. "It's a division rival. There are big games ahead. We have bigger things to focus on than that kind of stuff." 

Hyde was asked if the incident would light a fire under the Orioles

"I don't know," he said. "That wasn't the intention and we've been playing really good baseball the first half and just want to see us end the half playing well. We've been in a little bit of a skid right now and we're going through some tough times offensively. Hopefully we take some better at-bats tomorrow." 

The Orioles (57-37) saw their division lead shrink to one game over the Yankees as they have lost five of six and six of the last eight. 

The Orioles are 8-12 since June 21. If they lose one of the next two games their run of 22 straight AL East series without losing one will end.

The Orioles have scored just three runs the last four games and just one run over their last 33 innings.

The Cubs scored first and gained an early lead in each game of their three-game sweep of the Orioles and the Yankees scored twice in the second inning to get the lead tonight.

They looked like they could break through in the first inning versus Baltimore lefty Cade Povich, who had a 9.00 ERA in the opening frame this year entering this game. But after a single and two walks loaded the bases, he got Alex Verdugo to ground out and put up a zero with a 21-pitch inning.

The Orioles saw Gunnar Henderson single and Adley Rutschman walk to start the home first against 2023 AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole but he got the next three batters out as the Orioles' scoreless streak reached 25 innings.

Baltimore batters began tonight batting .140 (8-for-57) in the past seven games with runners in scoring position. And that was an 0-for-3 in the opening inning.

Shortstop Anthony Volpe led off the Yankees' second with a single to right and advanced to third on an error by right fielder Anthony Santander. He scored on Jose Trevino’s double to left and it became 2-0 when No. 9 hitter Jahmai Jones, a one-time Oriole, grounded a single into center field.

The O’s answered in the home second, pulling within 2-1 and ending their scoreless innings streak at 25 with their first run since the third inning Tuesday.

Kjerstad led off the frame with a single to left and stole second as Cedric Mullins fanned for the second out. But a Ramon Urias triple into the right-field corner made it a 2-1 game.

The Yankees quickly got that run back as Judge ended an eight-game run without an extra-base hit, where he went 4-for-31, with a home run to left in the third. Povich missed his spot leaving an 0-2 curveball over the middle of the plate. Judge hit it 397 feet for his MLB-leading 33^rd homer.

It was his 23^rd homer in 54 career games at Oriole Park and his 41^st in his 102^nd game against the Orioles. Tonight he went 1-for-1 with four walks as O's pitching walked eight. 

Povich did not allow a hit after that Judge homer and went 5 1/3 innings, allowing the three runs on five hits with five walks and six strikeouts.

He falls to 1-4 with an ERA of 6.27 after a 97-pitch outing. He got 15 whiffs on 36 swings tonight including 7-of-9 against his cutter. Juan Soto was 1-for-3 against him with a season-high five swings and misses.

Cole went six innings, and the 106 pitches are 16 more than any of his previous four games. This was his longest outing of his year which began with his June 19 start against the Orioles. He gave up five hits and that lone run.

Cole is now 2-1 with a 5.40 ERA. He improved to 6-3 with a 2.56 ERA in 14 career games against Baltimore. 

Reliever Burch Smith made his O's debut tonight and pitched 1 1/3 scoreless in relief of Povich with two strikeouts on 13 pitches. 

The Yankees, who got a Soto RBI hit in the ninth to end their scoring, began this game going 0-7-1 in their last eight series. They had lost seven of nine and were 6-17 since June 15 with a -35 run differential. 

The Orioles were 5-2 this year against New York as the series began, had won nine of their last 12 between these teams and were 11-6 against the Yankees in their past five series (going 4-0-1) dating to last year.

Now they need to win the next two games to take this series. If they do, they would also win the season series against New York, which would give them the playoff tiebreaker if needed at the end of the year.