Yankees clinch AL East as Orioles’ bullpen collapses after sharp start by Burnes
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NEW YORK—The Orioles will begin the postseason next Tuesday in the wild-card round. That was assured after the New York Yankees scored six runs against the Orioles’ bullpen in the sixth inning in a 10-1 win that clinched the American League East title before 42,022 at Yankee Stadium on Thursday night.
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Corbin Burnes pitched five sterling innings, allowing Giancarlo Stanton’s home run with one out in the fifth. With the postseason looming, manager Brandon Hyde pulled Burnes after just 69 pitches, two hits, a walk and nine strikeouts.
He was engaged in an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel with the Yankees’ Gerrit Cole until Hyde turned to his bullpen. It turned a tight game into a rout for the Yankees.
The 1-0 deficit ballooned when the Yankees took advantage of four walks and peppered Yennier Cano, Cionel Pérez and Bryan Baker for six runs in the sixth, and a 7-0 lead.
The Orioles head to Minnesota for the final three games of the regular season, needing a win or a Detroit Tigers loss over the weekend to secure home-field advantage in the best-of-three series that begins on Tuesday.
Kansas City and Detroit are tied for the second wild-card position. The Royals play at Atlanta and the Tigers play the 120-loss Chicago White Sox, whose next loss will set a modern-day record.
The Orioles (88-71) won two of three against the Yankees (93-66), clinching a playoff spot on Tuesday night and getting 17 hits on Wednesday. They won the season series, 8-5, over New York.
If the Orioles beat the Tigers or Royals in the wild card round, they could return to the Bronx on October 5th for the American League Division Series.
The Orioles were nearly shut out for the ninth time this season, getting only two hits in 6 2/3 innings off Cole (8-5). They scored in the ninth on three singles and a sacrifice fly by Emmanuel Rivera with two outs.
Burnes (15-9) struck out nine and continued a string of excellent starts. In his last three, Burnes gave up just one run on seven hits in 19 innings..
Cano replaced Burnes for the sixth, and after he struck out Anthony Volpe, he loaded the bases with a walk to Gleyber Torres, a single to Juan Soto and a walk to Aaron Judge.
Cionel Pérez walked Austin Wells to score Torres and Stanton’s three-run double put the Yankees ahead, 5-0. A two-run single by Anthony Rizzo against Bryan Baker made it 7-0.
Gunnar Henderson committed his 25th error, his first since September 9th, on a grounder by Soto in the seventh. Judge followed with his major league-leading 58th home run. He homered in each of the three games against the Orioles and equaled his career high with homers in five straight games.
Alex Verdugo homered against Matt Bowman in the eighth to put New York ahead, 10-0.
Note: Jackson Holliday pinch-hit for Henderson in the eighth and played shortstop for the first time in the major leagues in the bottom of the eighth.