Bronx baseball hit a major pothole in their four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, with the New York Yankees dropping three of four games.
Starting second baseman Gleyber Torres didn’t hold back after a 7-2 loss to close the series.
“We got punched in the face,” he told YES Network on May 2. “We have to figure out a way to beat them.”
Following the series’ finish, the Orioles took sole possession of first place in the American League East, passing the Yankees.
The two teams will meet three more times in the 2024 regular season. If the first of four series is any indication, the New York Yankees have some figuring out to do.
Gleyber Torres’ performance on the field was just as polarizing as his postgame comments.
Torres’ Up and Down in May 2 Loss
Torres himself played a major role in the final loss of the series, when he fumbled an easy out at second that had double play potential.
But he also had a single home run shot in the top of the sixth inning.
Torres finished 1-3 on the day with a home run, a walk, and a strike out.
It was a near-perfect personification of the Yankees’ day as a whole.
Torres’ barehanded miss at second helped put New York in the hole.
His home run shot was too little, too late.
His season’s been a disappointing one to start, slashing .218//295/.274 with 1 home run and 34 strikeouts in 124 at-bats.
But, he’s not the only culprit in the disappointing series finale.
Carlos Rodon Gives Game Away vs Orioles
Going into the May 2 matchup against Baltimore, Rodon had a 2.48 ERA in 6 starts.
That number inflated to 3.68, after he gave up 7 runs and 6 errors in 4 innings pitched.
All three Orioles’ home runs came with Rodon on the mound, including the season’s first for both Jorge Mateo and Ryan McKenna.
“Some pitches I’d like to have back,” Rodon told YES Network postgame. “Some fastballs down in the zone that get hit. Could have been better with some location. Good hitting team. But gotta be better with where I’m throwing the ball. Try to limit the long ball, get out sooner.”
The third home run he gave up, to Ryan Mountcastle, was increasingly unlikely. Baltimore’s first baseman sent a down and in slider over the right field wall at 107 mph.
“I know he covers some slider down in, but I wasn’t expecting that,” Rodon continued. “I didn’t think that ball was going to go out to right center the way it did. I mean, he’s got tremendous power, looks that way…He hit some balls good, I just wish I had that slider back. Probably better off bearing it than putting it in the zone there. I tip my cap to him.”
Rodon wasn’t as impressed with McKenna’s home run, given the exit velocity and how he was hitting all game.
“That’s just baseball. I didn’t think it was going to run out, and it did. He got it good. He hit it 103, it’s not like he didn’t barrel it. That was a cutter down the middle, and another pitch that the ball needs to be in, not down middle like that.”
It was inarguably the worst outing of the season for the Yankees’ $27.8 million ace.
He and New York both will need to get back in the lab, watch the tape, and work out some kinks before the two teams meet again for a three-game series in June.
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