That was terrible.
We don’t need to mince words about it. The Yankees welcomed the Orioles to the Bronx for a three-game set and inspired hope with a relatively breezy 4-2 victory on Tuesday with the only downside being an injury scare on an Aaron Judge plunking. He missed the next day, but Gerrit Cole had his long-awaited 2024 debut and the Yankee Stadium crowd was alive. The bullpen did not do its part though, and despite Giancarlo Stanton’s heroics, they fell in 10 innings.
Still, the Yanks looked to be in good shape to take the series, given Judge’s return to the lineup and the identity of the man who would toe the rubber for the finale. Rookie standout Luis Gil got the start, entering the day with a microscopic 2.03 ERA and 4.4 H/9. He was that special mix of difficult to score against and hard to square up. That was not to be the case on Thursday afternoon, as Baltimore jumped on him early and him, clobbered the righty for seven runs on eight hits, two walks, and hit-by-pitch. Gil only recorded four outs, and after heavy work on Wednesday, the Yankees’ bullpen offered no relief whatsoever. The final score: a 17-5 laugher for the O’s.
Perhaps we should’ve feared how this game would go, given what happened on the first pitch to leadoff hitter Gunnar Henderson:
That ball was hit hard, but it had a 95-percent catch probability. Juan Soto just played it poorly. Henderson scored on a two-out Ryan O’Hearn single, though it was easy to wave that handwave that from Gil. He almost got out of that jam anyway, and it was only 1-0 after the opening frame.
There were no excuses to be made, however, in regard to the second inning. Jordan Westburg cracked a single to center and Cedric Mullins made it hurt in a hurry.
This was a bad sign, as despite his All-Star pedigree, Mullins has been terrible in 2024. He entered play batting just .193/.242/.324 with 13 extra-base hits in 224 plate appearances. Gil’s mistake made it 3-0, Baltimore.
Gil got Austin Hays to groundout and simply spiraled from there. He walked No. 9 hitter Ramón Urías and got punished for that error as well. Three consecutive knocks from the formidable top of the Orioles lineup made it 6-0, capped by Ryan Mountcastle’s bases-clearing double. Gil then walked Ryan O’Hearn, allowed a single to Anthony Santander to load the bases again, and plunked Jordan Westburg on a 2-2 pitch to force in another run.
And so ended the Yankees’ remarkable streak of starting pitchers avoiding absolute blowups.
The Yankees' streak of having their starters go at least 4 innings is over after 76 games. It was the seventh-longest season-opening streak by any team since 1900.
— Chris Kirschner (@ChrisKirschner) June 20, 2024
Katie Sharp of Sports Reference added some much-appreciated context, noting that the 29 other MLB teams had combined for 242 such starts in 2024 before the Yankees even had one.
Gil was unfortunately also probably due for a shellacking. To be clear, he has been far from smoke and mirrors in 2024, and I don’t want to make it sound like he’s a mirage. He’s been electric. At the same time, was a rookie going to continue posting the aforementioned microscopic 2.03 ERA and 4.4 H/9 while facing one of the best offenses in the game? No, probably not. It sucks that it all came for Gil at once, but the Orioles can do that to anyone. Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler is considered one of the game’s elite starters, and Baltimore got to him for eight runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings last Sunday. Gil is a great young starter and just needs to shake off this bump in the road.
For a couple innings, the Yankees tried to get back into it. Michael Tonkin got out of the second, and he combined with Tommy Kahnle to hold the O’s to one extra run through the fourth. On the other side of the ball, Gleyber Torres (who later left with a tight groin, though the Yankees downplayed their concern) and Judge each clobbered long balls to make it an 8-3 ballgame. For Judge, it was his league-leading 27th of 2024, and a welcome sight after his HBP scare.
Recent bullpen addition Tim Hill entered for the fifth, hoping to keep it an 8-3 game. He did not, and none of the Yankees’ remaining relievers were up to the task either. An error by third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera didn’t help Hill, but he also didn’t have to cough up a three-run bomb to Santander, either. A second error by Cabrera — this time at the keystone — didn’t help Ron Marinaccio, but all the same, he plunked the leadoff batter in what was now an 11-5 affair, and Baltimore brought him around.
Next came the gruesome erstwhile Dodger twosome of Victor González and Caleb Ferguson. They combined to give up four runs on four hits, with an Austin Hays bomb officially declaring all vague hopes of a rally dead in the water. Jose Trevino had to pitch the ninth, which granted was probably a foregone conclusion once Gil left after four outs. It was a fitting way for a terrible game to end.
I feel obligated to note that despite my annoyance with the past couple games, I’ve seen too many declarations of the Yankees as fraudulent, hopeless, and guaranteed to fall short again because of their six shaky games thus far against Baltimore. We’re not even to the halfway point of the 2024 season and the Yankees already have 51 victories. There’s a long road ahead to get to October, and they are going to be in this fight due to their success already. They will make revisions to the roster at the Trade Deadline too, and even if they lose the fight for the AL East crown (which I am not conceding yet, either), October is a whole different story. Baltimore won 101 games last year and zero in the playoffs. The Astros won their own battle for the AL West in 2023, and it was ultimately meaningless because the Rangers showed up when they got the chance to dispatch them in the ALCS.
Days and series like this one can be deeply frustrating. But please refrain from going all doom and gloom. These are not the 2023 Yankees, if not only because that barely-.500 team could never dream of a stretch where they were 25 games over .500. The infrastructure is better. Yes, there is work to do, but do not write off a roster led by Judge, Soto, Cole, and more already. Take a deep breath. Watch something else to blow off some steam if you need to. Give the tough days some time.
The schedule doesn’t get easier this weekend, though, so it might need to be an extended break if you’re really stressed out (no, possible losses then won’t doom 2024, either). The Braves are down a couple stars and don’t look like quite the juggernaut they’ve been the past couple years, but they remain a no-doubt playoff team who will give the Yankees all they can handle — though of course Judge and company will be a tough assignment for Atlanta, too.
Former division rival Chris Sale gets the ball for the Braves amid a resurgent season while Carlos Rodón pitches for the Yankees in a battle of southpaws. The action starts tomorrow at 7:05pm ET on Apple TV+.
