The New York Yankees needed offense from somewhere Tuesday night at Camden Yards, and for most of the evening, the lineup wasn’t providing it. Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger both remain sidelined, and the group missing them had gone through stretches of this season looking exactly like a team missing two of its best hitters.
Six of the first seven Yankees hitters struck out against Orioles starter Shane Baz. The scoreboard sat at zeros. Camden Yards stayed quiet.
Then Trent Grisham stepped in, and the night changed.
Trent Grisham Delivers When Yankees Need It Most
GettyTrent Grisham of the New York Yankees.
Grisham broke the silence with a solo homer in the third inning, his 17th of the season, snapping an early drought and giving New York a 1-0 lead. Baltimore answered in the bottom of the inning when Coby Mayo tied it back up, and the game stayed knotted until the seventh.
That’s when Grisham delivered again. With the bases loaded, two outs, and the Yankees trailing in a fight to break the tie, he worked back from an 0-2 hole against left-hander Josh Walker and lined a two-run single to center. It put New York ahead for good in an eventual 3-1 win.
Every run in the box score traced back to Grisham. Asked about grinding through that at-bat after falling behind early in the count, he kept it simple.
“Stay in the fight,” Grisham said.
It wasn’t a dramatic answer, but it captured exactly what the moment required. He’d already missed once with the bases empty. This time he didn’t blink.
Carlos Rodon’s Return Buys New York Options
GettyCarlos Rodon of the New York Yankees.
The offense doesn’t matter without pitching that holds up, and Tuesday’s game leaned heavily on Carlos Rodon making his first start since June 28. Working back from an IL stint tied to elbow inflammation, Rodon pitched four innings on a pitch count, allowing just the one run to Mayo before exiting after 66 pitches.
From there, the bullpen took over and delivered five scoreless innings across five different relievers. George Lombard added two hits, including a fifth-inning single that helped generate a threat in a frame the Yankees ultimately couldn’t cash in on. It didn’t matter. Grisham’s seventh-inning single was enough, and Fernando Cruz closed the door by getting Pete Alonso to line out with the tying run on base in the ninth.
What It Means for the Yankees Moving Forward
Rodon’s return was supposed to be one of the bigger storylines of the week. Instead, it got overshadowed almost immediately by less encouraging news. Max Fried landed on the IL with another elbow bone bruise, a development that adds one more name to a rotation and lineup already thinned out by absences.
Judge remains out with a fractured rib, and the Yankees have had to piece together a lineup without their best hitter for a stretch now.
Final Word for New York
The Yankees won this one on the strength of a single player refusing to let the game slip away. Grisham did that twice, with a homer to open the scoring and a two-run single to close it out.
Rodon’s return matters beyond one outing. It’s a sign the rotation can stabilize even as Fried’s absence complicates things further. The bullpen holding a one-run lead for the final five innings says something about the depth behind him.
Judge’s return will change everything about this offense when it happens. Until then, the Yankees need more nights like this one, where somebody besides their captain decides the game isn’t getting away from them.
Stay in the fight. Grisham did. The rest of the lineup will need to follow.
Yankees’ Trent Grisham Sends Strong Message in Win Over Orioles