BALTIMORE — Brandon Hyde is a minor league catcher turned manager. New York Yankees In the dugout, he planted his heels on his feet to gain more power, but was blocked by the backup catcher, who began the day celebrating his 25th birthday and ended it with the goal of putting out fireworks, not lighting them.
“I thought it was a great birthday,” Austin Wells said late Friday night. Yankees win 4-1 over- Baltimore Orioles Be safe with rear visibility.
“We were trying to minimize the damage.”
It’s an appropriate sentiment for both the bench-emptying brawl that devastated the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees team that struck fear into the hearts of their supporters.
The team had lost or tied their last eight series dating back to mid-June, when they came to Camden Yards looking to overturn Baltimore’s two-game lead in the American League East before Sunday’s All-Star break.
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They cut that deficit in half on Friday, inadvertently pouring kerosene into an epic rivalry on the field and an exciting one off it.
“That’s pretty much the intensity we’ve had this whole year,” said Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, who was the winning pitcher on Friday.
“So I expect that to continue consistently.”
The spark came a month ago in the Bronx, when Yankees superstar Aaron Judge escaped serious injury after being hit in the hand by a pitch. That night, second baseman Gleyber Torres was also wearing one.
Yankees starting pitcher Nestor Cortes hit Orioles All-Star shortstop Gunnar Henderson with a towering strike, then the next day, relief pitcher Victor Gonzalez hit Henderson in the shoulder.
The loftier path was taken in the Bronx that week, as the teams met in Baltimore with the Orioles holding a 5-2 lead in the season series. With Cole pitching at his best since recovering from an elbow injury and Judge hitting his 33rd home run, the Yankees appeared set to win Opening Day without incident.
Then rain started to fall in the ninth inning, turning the muggy, 81-degree night into rain. Yankees closer Clay Holmes struck out Jordan Westberg for the first out of the inning, but pulled a frontdoor sinker wide while trying to throw to lefty Heston Kierstad.
The 97-mph ball was high and inside, and the rookie Kjelstad froze and crouched so the ball hit him in the bottom of his helmet. He stayed at the plate for a moment, then got up, was checked by trainer Brian Ebel, trudged to first base and headed to the dugout. He will be tested for a concussion on Saturday.
Mr. Holmes tried to express his feelings that this was not his intention, a comment that Mr. Hyde did not seem to heed.
Whenever someone — coach, player or otherwise — said something from the Yankees dugout, Hyde, his bunny ears perked up presumably for such a comment, turned and walked quickly toward the Yankees dugout.
“I was just walking back and I heard something from the other team’s dugout so I just reacted like that,” Hyde said. “I saw them pointing at me so I just reacted like that.”
And it added a bit of confusion to the pennant race.
Hyde didn’t get very far out of the left-handed batter’s box when Wells stepped up, who only played in the game because Jose Trevino had a quad injury.
A mosh pit formed around them, and bullpen players jogged in, with Judge smiling and saying, “You don’t understand unless you’re there.”
“Any time a guy gets hit in the head, emotions run high,” said Orioles outfielder Austin Hayes, who replaced Kjellstad on base. “I don’t think Clay was trying to hit Heston in the head. I think he was probably just trying to home in with a front-door sinker, and he missed.”
“The ball hit Heston hard and I really hope he’s OK. We’ll be saying our prayers tonight. It’s dangerous to see players get hit in the hand or head and sometimes they miss games because of it.”
“Whenever you see a guy get hit from up high, the emotions run high and I think we saw that in that game.”
There was little disagreement on that point from the other side.
“I think it’s totally understandable,” Cole said. “Hey, it’s really wet tonight. Everybody out there knows it was tough to get hold of the ball tonight. Guys got hit in the head.
“So I understand Brandon was upset. And he defends his players.”
Judge said: “He’s their manager. He’s been a great manager for them for many years. He’s always been on the players’ side and I think he’ll stand up for his team in a situation like this.”
“I have so much respect for him and his work, so if there’s a moment to stand up…”
“He looked like our ace.”
The series resumes on Saturday, but Hyde will most likely not be there to watch it: He will likely be suspended by MLB, and managers cannot appeal such suspensions.
Bench coach Fredi Gonzalez will take charge if bad blood runs high, but the team’s larger goals may take precedence over blatant displays of machismo and vigilante justice.
“I don’t think so. You don’t want to get hung up on that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to play well and win games.”
“It’s the same for them. We’ll try our best to play baseball tomorrow.”
It will be hard to match the artistry of Friday’s play. Cole, the Cy Young Award winner making his fifth start of the season, acknowledged that the last month has been his own spring training, as he tries to regain his strength after an elbow injury sidelined him early in the season.
He pitched six innings for the first time this season, throwing 100 pitches. He fought back from a 3-0 deficit, got Henderson off with a curveball, left a runner on base in the third inning and began a streak of 11 straight batters out.
He increased his fastball velocity to 99 mph and finished the night with a slick, leaping comeback ball to end the game with nine outs remaining for a depleted bullpen.
“He looked like our ace,” Boone said. “He had some nerves, but he was having fun. There was a joy in the way he pitched.”
“He’s one of the great pitchers of his generation. He’s an ace, he loves the challenge, he loves the competition. It was fun to watch him compete in those moments.”
Oh man, the Yankees needed that.
Their starting rotation was excellent for the first month of the season, then rookie Luis Gil took over and had a dominant May, earning him the AL Pitcher of the Month honors, but they fell apart once Cole returned.
Gil? He has a 7.00 ERA in his last six starts and a 0.60 ERA in the six starts before that. Carlos Rodon has a 10.57 ERA in his last five starts and a 2.93 ERA in 14 starts. Not coincidentally, the Yankees were 11-3 during his good years and 0-5 during his bad years.
boiling point
But the Orioles are in a bad spot right now. They were soundly defeated at home this week for the first time in three years by the Chicago Cubs. On Friday, they turned to left-hander Cade Povich to pitch for just his seventh major league start.
“I think you can tell in the first innings. His first innings was a little shaky,” Hyde said before the game. “He was having some issues with his control.”
You might say so. Povich walked five batters in 5 1/3 innings and gave up a big home run to Judge over the wall in left field. The Orioles learned their lesson. Judge hit an 0-2 curveball over the fence, but threw just one strike in each of his other four at-bats, all of which ended in a walk.
Baltimore’s vaunted offense hasn’t been any better either. The Orioles are batting just .182 (13 for 82) through 10 games this month and have never been able to pull within more than three games of the Yankees, even though New York has lost seven of nine games.
With one game remaining, one team should have at least a one-game lead going into the break, and both teams are all but guaranteed to make the playoffs.
The East champion won’t be decided for nearly three months, and the next step will come Saturday, presumably in a more calm atmosphere.
“We know a guy on the other team got hit by a pitch. They beat us,” Judge said.
“It was a bit of a boiling point there.”
