Trevor Rogers was ambushed in his return to the mound Tuesday night, giving up six runs in his first start in more than two weeks. That spelled disaster for the Orioles, who fell 6-2 in game of the series with the Yankees at Camden Yards.
Before the game even began, the Orioles got some bad news. Grant Wolfram, who has gone unused in the bullpen since May 6, was placed on the IL with a lower back strain. Shortly after that, the team had to scratch Dylan Beavers from the starting lineup due to right oblique discomfort. Obliques are notorious for nagging, so who knows what the outlook is for the rookie.
All of this would be a harbinger of the terrible things to come in the game ahead.
Orioles’ Opening Day starter Trevor Rogers made his highly-anticipated return from the IL in this one. He was greeted with a 402-foot home run off the bat of Paul Goldschmidt on the very first pitch of the game. Not ideal.
But it was in the third inning where the outing fell apart. Rogers loaded the bases with one out on a single and two walks. Then, Cody Bellinger drove in the Yankees’ second run of the day on a liner up the middle that Gunnar Henderson fielded and tried to turn into two outs, but could only nab the force out at second. Amed Rosario followed with an infield single that came on a bouncing ball down the third base line. Coby Mayo fielded it and made a running throw, but it was too late to retire Rosario. Judged scored on the play to make it a 3-0 game. Next up was Trent Grisham, who came through with a line drive to deep right-center for a three-run shot, extending the visitors’ lead to 6-0.
Rogers stuck around for the fourth inning to give the bullpen a little bit of help, but it didn’t make up for what was a poor showing overall. In those four innings, the lefty allowed six runs on six hits, three walks, three strikeouts, and two home runs. His season ERA is up to 5.77.
Stuff was not the problem for Rogers. In fact, his velocity and spin rates were both up compared to his season averages, and he had a whiff rate of 29% on the day. But when the Yankees did make contact it was very, very hard. Rogers gave up six balls in play at 103 mph or harder. Two of them were home runs. That is not good!
The Orioles offense created enough chances to get back into the game. They just didn’t make the most of them. That was never more true than in the bottom of the third inning, They managed to load the bases on a walk and a pair or fielders choices gone wrong for the Yankees. But all three runners would be stranded after Taylor Ward flew out and Adley Rutschman grounded into a double play to leave the O’s with no runs scored on the day.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Orioles finally got on the board against Yankees starter Will Warren. Ward led off with a double, and then came in to score on a Samuel Basallo single. Tyler O’Neill then forced Basallo to run the 270 feet between first base and home plate by hitting his first double of the season and driving in the O’s second run of the day. That narrowed the deficit to just four runs, the Orioles now trailing 6-2.
Another good chance to score came in the eighth inning. Ward got it going with a single. Pete Alonso singled as well to put two runners on with one out. The prompted a pitching change for the Yankees, which proved a wise decision. Tim Hill came on and got both Basallo and O’Neill to ground out and end the threat.
That would be the last real opportunity for the Orioles to mount a comeback. They went down in order in the ninth inning to lose the second game of the series by that 6-2 scoreline.
Ultimately, the difference in this game came down to the Orioles inability to hit with runners in scoring position. They went 1-for-12 in such situations and left seven runners on base. Of course, this is not a new development. The team has struggled with this all year.
Gunnar Henderson went 0-for-4. He and his .660 OPS hitting lead-off with any sort of regularity right now does not make sense, though it’s not as if the Orioles are rich with options anyway.
The bottom third of the lineup (Colton Cowser, Mayo, and Jeremiah Jackson) went 0-for-11 with four strikeouts and one walk. It’s a problem that won’t be solved by just one player, like Jackson Holliday, getting healthy. The team needs a miracle.
On the bright side, the bullpen was very good! Josh Walker worked two scoreless innings and struck out three in his Orioles debut. Yennier Cano, Andrew Kittredge, and Tyler Wells followed with one shutout inning each. They kept the team in the game and gave the O’s a chance. That’s really all you can ask for.
Rutschman had a mixed game on defense. He threw out two stolen base attempts, an area where he has really improved in 2026. He also dropped a foul ball pop-up in the ninth inning that fortunately did not come back to bite the team.
Basallo and Ward had two hits each. As has often been the case, they were the lone source of offense for an Orioles lineup that is really struggling.
The end of this series will come a bit sooner than originally planned. Due to expected weather in the area, the Orioles and Yankees moved up the start time for Wednesday’s game. First pitch will now be 1:05 from Camden Yards. Max Fried will go for the Yankees, and we do not yet know who Craig Albernaz plans to throw in the rubber match. Kyle Bradish would be on regular rest.
