BALTIMORE — Bryan Baker threw a 96-mph pitch by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and unleashed a roar in chorus with the 45,017 raucous fans at a sold-out Camden Yards.
The strikeout ended the eighth inning with the potential tying run at third base, and Baltimore closer Félix Bautista repeated the feat in the ninth as the Orioles held on to beat the New York Yankees, 7-6, in their first home game of the season.
The Orioles had already lost a 4-0 lead and were on the verge of letting a 7-5 advantage slip away when Baker entered with two on, no outs and a run already in. The first batter he faced, All-Star catcher Jose Trevino, tried to bunt those runners over, but when Baker’s first two pitches missed the strike zone, Trevino swung away. Gold Glove third baseman Ramón Urías, who doubled in the go-ahead run and scored what proved to be the game-winner in the seventh, snared a 105.4-mph ground ball to start a double play. Baker’s strikeout of Kiner-Falefa came with Oriole Park’s crowd on its feet and elicited chest slaps and yells from the right-hander.
As right-hander Dean Kremer opened his outing with three scoreless frames, Baltimore scored the game’s first four runs. Free-agent signee Adam Frazier singled in a run in the second before an error by Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres, who dominated the Orioles offensively in 2019, prevented what could’ve been an inning-ending double play and instead allowed another run to score.
Behind two former top prospects playing in their first Camden Yards home opener, the Orioles doubled their lead in the third. Adley Rutschman walked, went to third on Anthony Santander’s double and scored on a sacrifice fly from Ryan Mountcastle before Gunnar Henderson drove in Santander with a double.
New York scored the game’s next five runs, four off Kremer, but the Orioles evened the game in the sixth as Rutschman singled in the tying run on the eighth pitch of his at-bat. Urías drove in a run and scored in the seventh to put Baltimore back in front, and Baker and Bautista managed to hold the lead, though not without drama.
After Baker escaped the eighth, Bautista struck out the first two batters of the ninth before walking Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. But Anthony Rizzo flew out to left to end the game.
Franch(y) Revolution
Among the primary storylines of the Orioles’ spring was which of the left-handed batters they brought in over the offseason would crack their roster. They ended up selecting none, and one of them got his revenge Friday.
After opting out of his minor league deal with Baltimore, Franchy Cordero signed with the Yankees, meaning he was still at Camden Yards for the Orioles’ home opener. Batting eighth for New York, he walked in his first plate appearance against Kremer, who started his afternoon with 3 2/3 scoreless innings. Kremer was an out away from his first clean inning of the game when a single and walk put two on for Cordero, who hit a 2-1 cutter a projected 411 feet to right field for his first home run as a Yankee.
It’s the third time in Cordero’s seven-season career he drew a walk and hit a home run in the same game. However, he did not get the chance to build on those two plate appearances. After Logan Gillaspie allowed a runner he inherited from Kremer and one of his own to score in the sixth, manager Brandon Hyde turned to left-hander Danny Coulombe to face Cordero, prompting Yankees manager Aaron Boone to pinch-hit to avoid a left-on-left matchup.
Around the horn
— Catcher James McCann (left oblique strain) began a rehabilitation assignment with High-A Aberdeen on Friday.
— Right-handed reliever Mychal Givens, on the 15-day injured list with left knee inflammation, is set to throw a side session Saturday.
— Hyde said he was unsure how the Orioles’ rotation would look when right-hander Kyle Bradish (bruised right foot) is activated from the injured list, other than Bradish will be in it.
