Bryan Baker threw a 96 mph by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and unleashed a roar in chorus with the 45,017 raucous fans at a sold-out Camden Yards.
The Orioles’ right-hander pounded his chest, yelled some more and nearly smacked the glove off catcher Adley Rutschman’s left hand as they met near the first-base line to celebrate a strikeout that ended the eighth inning of Friday’s game against the New York Yankees with the potential tying run at third base. Baltimore closer Félix Bautista repeated the feat in the ninth as the Orioles held on to beat the American League East favorite, 7-6, in their first game in Baltimore this season.
Baker, who routinely displayed passion in his rookie season as he carved out a role in the Orioles’ bullpen, joked he would need to go back and watch video to determine whether that was the most excited he’s been on the field, rating the outburst as a 9.5 out of 10.
“I blacked out a little bit,” Baker said. “I think it was fun, though.”
The Orioles had already lost a 4-0 lead and were on the verge of letting a 7-5 advantage slip away when Baker entered with two on, no outs and a run already in. The first batter he faced, All-Star catcher Jose Trevino, tried to bunt those runners over, but when Baker’s first two pitches missed the strike zone, Trevino swung away. Gold Glove third baseman Ramón Urías, who doubled in the go-ahead run and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the seventh, snared a 105.4 mph ground ball to start a double play. Baker’s strikeout of Kiner-Falefa came with Oriole Park’s crowd on its feet.
Despite his hardware at third base, Urías doesn’t have a lock on the position, with preseason No. 1 prospect Gunnar Henderson also playing there. But with his snag, he showed how valuable he is at that spot.
“He had a huge game for us,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Shows you why he was a Gold Glover last year with that play, a game-saving play.”
As right-hander Dean Kremer opened his outing with three scoreless frames, Baltimore scored the game’s first four runs. Free-agent signee Adam Frazier singled in a run in the second before an error by Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres — whose 13 home runs against the Orioles in 2019 set a divisional era record — prevented what could’ve been an inning-ending double play and instead allowed another run to score.
Behind two former top prospects playing in their first Camden Yards home opener, the Orioles doubled their lead in the third. Rutschman walked, went to third on Anthony Santander’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Mountcastle before Henderson drove in Santander with a double.
New York scored the game’s next five runs. One of many left-handed batters the Orioles added this offseason, Franchy Cordero opted out of his minor league deal with Baltimore before signing with the Yankees, meaning he was still at Camden Yards for the Orioles’ home opener. Batting eighth for New York, he walked in his first plate appearance against Kremer, who started his afternoon with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Kremer was an out away from his first clean inning of the game when a single and walk put two on for Cordero, who hit a 2-1 cutter a projected 411 feet to right field for his first home run as a Yankee.
It’s the third time in Cordero’s seven-season career he drew a walk and hit a home run in the same game. He did not get the chance to build on those two plate appearances. After Logan Gillaspie allowed a runner he inherited from Kremer and one of his own to score in the sixth, manager Brandon Hyde turned to left-hander Danny Coulombe to face Cordero, prompting Yankees manager Aaron Boone to pinch-hit to avoid a left-on-left matchup.
Coulombe kept the deficit at one, allowing the Orioles to even the game in the sixth when Rutschman singled in the tying run on the eighth pitch of his at-bat. Urías drove in a run and scored in the seventh to put Baltimore back in front, and Baker and Bautista managed to hold the lead, though not without drama.
After Baker escaped the eighth, Bautista struck out the first two batters of the ninth before walking Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. But Anthony Rizzo flew out to left to end the game, giving the Orioles a victory in their first matchup with the team favored to win the AL East.
“There’s no question the talent we have in this room,” Baker said. “It’s really just about going out and having a good time and feeding off each other and executing the way we’re supposed to. I think we can play with just about anybody. We proved that today.”
Around the horn
Catcher James McCann (left oblique strain) began a rehabilitation assignment with High-A Aberdeen on Friday.
Right-handed reliever Mychal Givens, on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation, is set to throw a side session Saturday.
Hyde said he was unsure how the Orioles’ rotation would look when right-hander Kyle Bradish (bruised right foot) is activated from the injured list, other than Bradish will be in it.
Yankees at Orioles
Saturday, 7:05 p.m.
TV: MASN
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
