NEW YORK — The champagne might go flat. The beer may skunk.
The New York Yankees missed another chance at a rowdy clubhouse celebration with their mistake-riddled, 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night. A win would have given the Yankees the division crown.
Instead, they’ll have to wait at least another night with their magic number hovering at one.
The game wasn’t as close as the score indicated. The Yankees put together a meaningless four-run rally in the ninth inning on a Juan Soto RBI single and a three-run homer from Aaron Judge.
A night after Gleyber Torres’ base-running gaffe low-lighted a loss and the Yankees first missed opportunity to clinch the American League East, the primary culprit was rookie Jasson Domínguez, who misplayed a catchable fly ball in left field with the bases loaded and no outs in the first inning. The blunder allowed two runs to score.
Domínguez said he lost track of the ball.
“I have no excuse,” he said. “That ball has to be caught 100 percent of the time.”
Jasson Dominguez continues to struggle in the outfield. 2-0 Orioles pic.twitter.com/h1gW45k8NM
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) September 25, 2024
A co-star credit went to Marcus Stroman, who gave up six runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings. In fairness, Stroman was put in an unenviable position as the emergency spot starter with Nestor Cortes (elbow flexor strain) a sudden scratch.
Third baseman Jazz Chisholm also fumbled a double play turn and Anthony Volpe overthrew first base for an error as manager Aaron Boone surely wondered quietly what happened to the club that won five of six on its West Coast trip.
“Just didn’t play real well early and couldn’t quite get back in it,” said Boone, who also called the Yankees’ play “sloppy.”
Of course, all the consternation over the Yankees’ recent sloppiness will go away if they win Thursday and clinch their 21st division title.
It will be tough. While the Yankees will start reigning AL Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole (7-5, 3.67 ERA), Baltimore plans to counter with their ace Corbin Burnes (15-8, 2.95 ERA). With Tuesday’s win, the Orioles clinched a playoff spot, which the Yankees did last week.
“It’s the game, man,” Boone said. “Nothing’s been easy for us this year. Shouldn’t expect it to be now. But we’ve kind of persevered and kind of (ground) our way through all of it.”
Judge said being one win away from a division clinch didn’t make things tougher for the Yankees, who held just a half-game lead over the Cleveland Guardians for the best record in the AL.
“They’re all tough,” Judge said. “We’re playing a great team that’s battled with us all year long. It’s never going to be easy.”
Domínguez’s miscue set the sloppy tone of the night.
Stroman had loaded the bases via three hits in his first eight pitches of the game. Then Colton Cowser — battling Yankees catcher Austin Wells in the AL Rookie of the Year race — lifted a high fly ball to the corner in left field.
Domínguez overran it by a step and tried to reach back behind his head to snare it. The ball dropped, caromed off the wall and bounced toward the infield. When Domínguez found it, he hit cutoff man Volpe, who tried for the throw home but it was late. Two runs scored, though Wells was able to throw out Anthony Santander sliding into third base.
MLB’s Statcast said the fly ball had a catch probability of 95 percent.
“That’s a challenging chance,” Boone said. “But one that we’ve got to make, too.”
“He knows he should have made that play but he’ll learn from it and be better,” Judge said.
It was the third misplay in about a week for Domínguez, who overran a fly ball in center field and then dropped another in left field in Seattle.
When the Yankees decided not to call up Domínguez when rosters expanded on Sept. 1., The Athletic spoke with an opposing team’s evaluator who pointed out that Domínguez had been struggling defensively at Triple A.
Domínguez’s shoddy recent glove work could further cement Alex Verdugo as the team’s starting left fielder in the playoffs. Verdugo has been much steadier in left field, and the Yankees should be more concerned about getting offense when it matters from middle-of-the-lineup bats Judge, Soto, Giancarlo Stanton and Wells.
How will Boone decide who starts in left field in crunch time?
“Just kind of try to take it all in,” the manager said. “What gives you the best chance to win on a given night? Try and obviously give a good look to Jasson here down the stretch because we know he’s capable out there. I feel like he’s been giving some good at-bats of late. But we’ll continue to pay attention to all of it.”
Marcus Stroman, who gave up six runs on 10 hits in 3 1/3 innings against the Orioles, was an emergency spot starter for Nestor Cortes. (Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
Stroman, who hadn’t pitched in eight days, didn’t make any excuses for his poor performance. He learned that he would be Wednesday’s starter late Tuesday night. He didn’t walk anyone but he only struck out one batter. Clayton Beeter followed him and gave up two earned runs. Cody Poteet pitched 3 1/3 innings, surrendering one run.
The Yankees had moved Stroman to the bullpen on Sept. 13 and he had made only one relief appearance before Wednesday’s start.
“It’s frustrating,” he said of his performance, “but at the end of the day I didn’t execute and do my job out there to keep my team in position to win. … I need to make better pitches and have better command throughout the night.”
The Yankees have four games remaining in the regular season. If they win one, they can relax, knowing they have taken the division. But on Wednesday, the bubbly remained corked.
(Top photo of Aaron Judge hitting a three-run home run in the ninth inning against Baltimore: Brad Penner / Imagn Images)
