O's tune out 'outside noise,' make their own in 17-run romp vs. Yanks

NEW YORK -- The Yankees talked about the hit by pitches early in the tense series. The national media talked about the possibility of retaliation and the potential for emotions to boil over between two American League East rivals.

The Orioles let their bats carry their side of the conversation on their way out of the Bronx.

In one of its biggest wins of the season thus far, Baltimore pounced on electric New York rookie Luis Gil early and pounded its way to a 17-5 statement victory at Yankee Stadium on Thursday. The O’s (49-25), who dropped Tuesday’s opener, bounced back to take two of three from the Yankees (51-26), cutting their lead in the AL East to a half-game.

“Really proud of our guys not buying into too much that comes from outside noise,” said Ryan O’Hearn, who had two hits and four RBIs. “Just knowing that when the game starts, that’s all that matters. We’ve got a lot of hard-nosed, grinder-type players that just show up and play their ass off.”

This was the 22nd consecutive divisional series the Orioles have either won or split, a streak that began in April 2023. It’s the longest such run for any MLB team since divisions were introduced in 1969.

The 17 runs were the most plated by Baltimore since an 18-5 win vs. Cleveland on June 6, 2021. It’s only the third time in team history (since 1954) that the Orioles have scored that many runs in a game vs. the Yankees.

Most runs scored by Orioles vs. Yankees
1. 18 -- June 8, 1986, at old Yankee Stadium
T-2. 17 -- Sept. 27, 2005, at Camden Yards
T-2. 17 -- June 20, 2024, at new Yankee Stadium
4. 16 -- June 5, 1989, at old Yankee Stadium

“It was really fun out there today,” said a smiling Gunnar Henderson, who went 3-for-5 with three runs scored from the leadoff spot.

The fireworks began early, even though Gil has been among baseball’s top starters early this year. The 26-year-old right-hander entered Thursday with an AL-best 2.03 ERA, and he had allowed only seven runs in 55 1/3 innings over his previous nine outings.

Yet, the O’s tagged Gil for seven runs in 1 1/3 innings, six coming in a second that featured a Cedric Mullins two-run homer and a Ryan Mountcastle three-run double. Gil’s seven runs and eight hits allowed were career highs in the shortest outing of his 22-start MLB tenure.

“He’s got great stuff. We knew that,” O’Hearn said of Gil, who threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings in Baltimore on May 1. “He got us last time at home, but I think we just had a good game plan going in, trying to make sure we got him in the zone and kind of [hit] low line drives and pass the bat to the next guy.”

Nearly everybody got involved in the Orioles’ season-high 19-hit attack. Nine players had a knock and seven had multiple, including three apiece from Henderson, Adley Rutschman and Mountcastle. Anthony Santander slugged a three-run homer in the fifth -- his 19th home run of the season and his 10th in 19 June games -- and Austin Hays belted a two-run homer in the seventh.

The O’s improved to 19-7 in AL East play this year and 5-2 vs. the Yankees. Baltimore will need to win only two of its six remaining meetings with New York to own a potential tiebreaker, which could come into play at the conclusion of a tight divisional race.

Although neither of the Orioles’ top two starters pitched this series (Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez) -- and despite taking on the trio of Nestor Cortes, reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole and Gil -- Baltimore won the set via Wednesday’s resilient 10-inning victory and Thursday’s offensive onslaught.

Perhaps a statement was made by the defending AL East champs in the process?

“I don’t know what kind of statement we’re making,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I know teams think we’re a good team, and our record shows it. And the way we’ve been playing against our division and how we’ve been playing baseball the last couple years, everybody kind of knows. We’re just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”

Baltimore’s June schedule has been grueling, with only one off-day this month. The O’s have powered through, winning 10 of their past 13 games during a stretch that has featured a four-game road sweep of the Rays and taking two of three from each of the Braves, the National League-best Phillies and the MLB-best Yankees.

Sure, New York brought a tough environment that only became more hostile after Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres were both plunked Tuesday night. But there’s a reason why Baltimore’s players never fed the narrative of animosity when repeatedly asked about it.

As O’Hearn put it, the Orioles were “tuning out the outside stuff and staying locked in on what our job was, and that’s to come in and win a series.”

Another mission accomplished.

“It doesn’t matter what happens,” Henderson said. “It seems like we’re always going to go out there and play our best ball and just try to win games.”