The New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 5-3 on Wednesday night at Camden Yards, to win the series. A controversial foul call on a Pete Alonso fly ball in the seventh kept the game tied. Ryan McMahon exited with a left thumb injury after a slide in the second inning.
The winning rally in the eighth came together on contact from a hit batter, a walk, another hit batter, and George Lombard Jr. beating out a slow grounder to the infield for the go-ahead run. Jazz Chisholm Jr. then scored on a wild pitch to add insurance.
It was not a clean night. Aaron Boone discussed it afterward.
Boone Keeps It Real
Boone did not dress up the performance. The Yankees found a way to win, and the margin was thin the entire night.
“We were able to hold on for dear life,” Boone said.
The eighth inning rally featured just one hit. Lombard’s speed turned a routine play into the run that broke the tie with the bases loaded. Chisholm scored two pitches later on a ball that barely escaped the catcher, sliding in to make it a two-run cushion.
It was the kind of inning built on pressure rather than power. The Yankees did not need to hit the ball hard. They needed to keep the line moving, and they did.
The Yankees Bullpen Held It Together
Will Warren needed a heavy workload to navigate four innings against a Baltimore lineup that refused to give him easy outs.
Boone acknowledged the difficulty without making excuses.
“It’s a good lineup, it’s a heavy lineup, it’s dangerous,” Boone said. “It’s not always going to be perfect. But there’s a lot to be said for those outings where you’re not able to get five, six, seven innings out of them.”
Boone pointed to that depth as the reason the Yankees are where they are in the standings.
“The strength of our starting rotation and those guys in the pen is why we’re in this position,” Boone said.
Rice Leaves Camden Yards Stunned
The offensive highlight belonged to Ben Rice. In the third inning, he worked a long at-bat against Chris Bassitt before driving a fastball 431 feet for his 34th home run of the season.
Boone’s reaction said everything.
“I don’t know that I’ve seen a ball go there,” Boone said. “That was a big boy blow right there.”
The homer extended the Yankees’ lead to 3-1 at the time and provided the kind of moment a lineup that has been searching for production during Aaron Judge‘s absence desperately needed.
Final Word for the Yankees
Three straight wins. The offense is still searching for some consistency, and the starters have not been going deep into games lately.
But the bullpen keeps showing up. Warren did enough to keep the game close. And Rice is providing the kind of power this lineup needs to stay in the race.
Boone knows the formula is not pretty. He also knows it is working.
Yankees’ Aaron Boone Drops Honest Quote After Win Over Orioles