The New York Yankees fell 3-2 at Camden Yards on Monday night, and the way it happened is going to stick with you for a few days. Ryan Weathers was brilliant -- genuinely, historically good -- for six-plus innings. He carried a no-hitter into the seventh. He struck out nine. He left with a 2-0 lead and 101 pitches on his arm.
Then Brent Headrick served up a 389-foot three-run homer to Coby Mayo, a guy hitting .158 on the season, and that was the game.
One Pitch, Three Runs
The seventh inning started fine. Adley Rutschman led off with a bouncer up the middle -- the no-hitter was gone -- but Weathers got Pete Alonso on a groundout (Rutschman moved to second) and then walked Tyler O'Neill. Aaron Boone came out, took the ball, and handed it to Headrick.
What happened next is simple to describe and ugly to think about. Mayo, who'd struck out against Weathers in the second inning and was hitting .158 in his first 35 games this year, ripped a 389-foot blast to left field on the third pitch -- 99.6 mph off the bat, 32-degree launch angle, and three runs in. Win probability shifted from 30 percent in favor of Baltimore to 77 percent in under ten seconds.
(Mayo had a .158 batting average. Against a rested bullpen arm. At home. This is baseball.)
The Yankees didn't score again.
Weathers Deserved Better
Let's be clear about what Weathers did before that seventh inning: he was lights out. He didn't allow a hit through six complete innings -- including two walks that he stranded each time -- and struck out nine while facing Gunnar Henderson, Alonso, and Rutschman twice apiece without surrendering a single base hit. His stuff was sharp enough that Coby Mayo went down swinging in the second. Blaze Alexander whiffed twice. The Baltimore lineup, coming off a Sunday win over Oakland, couldn't get a ball to fall in for six full innings.
Nine strikeouts. A 62 percent strike rate. Three walks -- not great, but manageable. He gave his team a 2-0 lead and three fewer outs to work with.
There's no version of this game where Weathers is the problem. He did the job. The job just didn't get finished.
Ben Rice Did His Part
Ben Rice gave the Yankees all the offense they got, and it wasn't for lack of trying. His 13th homer of the season -- a 374-foot, two-run shot to left center off Brandon Young in the third, 100.6 mph off the bat -- scored Trent Grisham and put the Yanks up 2-0. That's now 13 homers for Rice through 42 team games, which ties him with Aaron Judge for the most in the Yankees' first 42 games for any two teammates in franchise history.
The rest of the lineup wasn't having it. Jazz Chisholm struck out three times. Ryan McMahon went 0-for-4. The team finished 5-for-31 on the night -- Rice (2), Judge (a double in the sixth), Goldschmidt, and Schuemann getting all of them. The offense gave Weathers a two-run cushion and then collected 20 outs while he was dealing -- which was enough, until it wasn't.
A flicker came in the ninth: Goldschmidt singled with two outs, Caballero came in to run. Caballero took off for second. Rutschman threw him out -- the Orioles challenged, the review went against Caballero, and just like that, the Yankees were done.
(The thing about the Caballero steal is that it wasn't a bad idea in a vacuum -- you need him in scoring position. But Adley Rutschman is one of the better-throwing catchers in the league, and one wrong read ends it, as it did. When you're down one, those gambles have to pay off.)
The Headrick Question
Boone's move in the seventh isn't going to get a lot of scrutiny, but it should at least get a question mark. Weathers had 101 pitches and was working through trouble, and Headrick was the call -- not Camilo Doval, who ended up throwing a clean ninth. Was it matchup-based? A preference for the lefty-on-lefty angle against O'Neill? Whatever the logic, Mayo is a right-handed hitter, and he turned Headrick's third pitch into the game-winner.
Headrick takes the loss at 3-1 on the year. Weathers walks away with a no-decision and probably a few choice words for no one in particular.
What's Next
Will Warren starts Tuesday with a 4-1 record and a 3.46 ERA. The Yankees are 26-16 and two games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, on a four-game losing streak that's getting harder to wave away as noise.
Win one tomorrow.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
