Orioles hold off Yankees, 4-3, for much-needed win in series opener

Sam Cohn, The Baltimore Sun on Apr 28, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

BALTIMORE — The Orioles needed an outing like this. They haven’t been able to catch a break.

Four hours before first pitch, manager Brandon Hyde sat for his pregame news conference lamenting a bevy of injury updates, which included five pitchers. It got worse when, less than three minutes before the Orioles and Yankees got underway, the team placed Jordan Westburg and Gary Sánchez on the injured list. They returned home as losers of six of their past seven to face the American League East-leading New York Yankees. Camden Yards was crawling with pinstripes.

The Orioles needed someone to stop the bleeding. That’s where Tomoyuki Sugano came in, setting the stage for a 4-3 win.

New York entered Monday night top-five in MLB in hits and top-two in home runs and batting average. First in both OBP and slugging. Goliath might’ve dismantled any other Orioles starter. Sugano pitched five scoreless innings, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out a season-high eight.

It was Baltimore’s first scoreless start (omitting Keegan Akin’s 1 2/3 innings opening the second of Saturday’s doubleheader).

Sugano’s best outing as an Oriole ended when Yankees first baseman Paul Goldschmidt launched a fastball sharply toward center field. Cedric Mullins, easily the team’s best player in 2025, leaped against the wall to rob a would-be two-run homer. Sugano, who threw a season-high 95 pitches, clapped like a proud dad and tipped his cap. He gave a nod and smirk to catcher Adley Rutschman, acknowledging the well-rounded showing.

Manager Brandon Hyde has struggled to come up with positive adjectives for his starters lately. He has no issues commending Sugano’s command. In Monday night’s win, Sugano garnered 17 whiffs — the most of any Orioles starter thus far.

The objective of this team fighting for a way back to relevance is often repeated and fairly straightforward: If there’s a playoff push to be had, tread water until they get healthy enough to compete nightly. Baltimore’s bats have struggled to pull their weight. And the pitching staff, for the most part, is an anchor sinking to the ocean floor, with a bottom-three collective ERA.

Sugano seems to be keeping the Orioles afloat in that department. He’s cobbled together three straight quality starts. In this outing, he threw four pitches 19 or more times, keeping the Yankees off balance.

Baltimore got a scare when Gregory Soto allowed two runs in relief, with Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells hitting RBI doubles. Soto folded over in frustration. He got through the eighth inning but ambled off the mound with Baltimore clinging to a 4-3 lead.

Félix Bautista was introduced in the ninth for a save situation. Trent Grisham popped out. Bautista rang up two-time Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge. He fell behind 3-0 to Cody Bellinger then struck him out swinging. It was Bautista’s fourth save of the season.

They all needed this one.

Instant analysis

Baltimore’s bats did just enough. Ryan O’Hearn said last week they can only have so many “talks and meetings and say so much stuff,” it’s just a matter of going out and doing it. He did it on Monday, hammering a three-run home run in the third inning. That piled on to a Ramón Laureano RBI double an inning earlier. The Orioles are now 10-2 when they score four or more runs.

They still have issues with runners in scoring position. The Orioles went 1 for 7 in those situations on Monday, making them a dismal .199 this year. Monday, it could have made the win a little more comfortable. Most nights, capitalizing on such traffic is the difference between winning and losing.

On deck

The Orioles narrowly escaped with a win over their division rivals. Baltimore continues its home stand with another two versus New York, with Kyle Gibson making his season debut on Tuesday and Cade Povich taking the ball on Wednesday.