Orioles lifeless again vs. Yankees and suffer third straight loss, 9-4

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on May 2, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — In the city that never sleeps, the Baltimore Orioles can’t wake up.

After a lopsided loss on Friday, the Orioles sleepwalked through Saturday’s matinee en route to a 9-4 loss to the American League-best New York Yankees.

Starting pitcher Kyle Bradish didn’t give his offense a chance, giving up five runs in four innings to continue the rotation’s recent struggles. The bats weren’t much better, getting no-hit through three innings for the third game in a row and mustering only four hits.

On Thursday, the Orioles got back to .500 for the ninth time this year. They’ve since lost three straight games and are 15-18, matching their worst mark of the season.

While it’s only early May, the Orioles’ series in New York this weekend was expected to serve as a litmus test against the only AL team playing well this season. The Yankees are 22-11 and seven games ahead of Baltimore.

So far, the Orioles look like the far inferior team, and it could get worse with two games remaining in the series, including prospect Trey Gibson being thrown into the fire to start Sunday for his MLB debut.

Saturday’s game began the same way each of the past three has — with the Orioles’ starter struggling.

After the Orioles’ 10-3 win in Game 1 of their doubleheader Thursday against the Houston Astros — one of the club’s best wins of the season — veteran Chris Bassitt said the club’s starting pitchers had a “come-to-Jesus” meeting during which they discussed the need to attack hitters and not be “too cute.”

In the three games since, Orioles starters have combined to allow 20 runs in 12 innings.

Brandon Young surrendered 10 runs in Game 2 on Thursday, while Cade Povich and Bradish both gave up five runs to the Yankees. Povich and Young, the Orioles’ Nos. 7 and 8 starters to start the season, are needed because the team is down three arms: Zach Eflin, who is out for the season, and Dean Kremer and Trevor Rogers, who are both on the 15-day injured list.

Bradish struggled with his command — like he has all season — throughout his outing Saturday against the Yankees’ patient and powerful lineup. Cody Bellinger, who terrorized Orioles pitchers by going 4 for 4 with four RBIs, started off the scoring with a solo homer in the second inning.

Bradish’s poor command and the Orioles’ poor defense came back to bite in the third. With a runner on third, a slider backed up on Adley Rutschman, and the catcher wasn’t able to corral the pitch for a passed ball that allowed José Caballero to score. Bellinger then hit a line drive to right-center field for an RBI, and middle infielders Gunnar Henderson and Jeremiah Jackson didn’t communicate, leaving second base open for Bellinger to stretch a single into a double.

In the fourth, Bradish was one pitch away from ending his outing on a positive note, but Trent Grisham clobbered a center-cut fastball for a two-run homer to put the Yankees up 5-1. New York added another run in the fifth after Bellinger’s second solo homer of the afternoon, this one off lefty reliever Keegan Akin.

Bradish was expected to be a frontline starter after he pitched like one since 2023 despite his elbow issues. But through seven starts this year, Bradish has a 5.03 ERA and 1.82 WHIP.

The Orioles’ offense did come to life in the middle innings. In his homecoming to New York, Pete Alonso homered for the second game in a row, taking lefty starter Ryan Weathers deep to left field. His 13 homers against the Yankees are the most by any player through 34 career games against the Bronx Bombers.

The Orioles then manufactured two runs in the sixth after they loaded the bases off Weathers with no outs to get to New York’s bullpen. Alonso grounded into a double play to kill the rally but bring home a run, and Samuel Basallo smacked a pinch-hit double to put Baltimore down three. The Orioles then came within two runs in the seventh after pinch hitter Dylan Beavers walked, stole second and third, and scored on an RBI groundout by Taylor Ward.

But the Yankees didn’t let the score stay close for long, plating three runs off Orioles reliever Anthony Nunez. Bellinger hit an RBI single for the first run, and Jazz Chisholm Jr. brought home the final two runs on a single to right field.

The defeat is Baltimore’s third straight after it got back to .500 on Thursday. The last time the Orioles were three games under .500 was when they were 3-6 after getting swept by the Pirates in early April. The Orioles responded by sweeping the White Sox.

Doing the same will be more difficult against the Yankees, who have Max Fried and Cam Schlittler starting the next two days.

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