NEW YORK — They would have been justified to turn this into more than it needed to be.
The critical series against the Yankees could’ve easily turned into chaos had the Orioles reacted in a way that many teams would have.
Tuesday’s series opener was intense, from the strange collision between Jordan Westburg and Juan Soto to Aaron Judge being hit by a pitch on the hand and Yankees fans cheering when Gunnar Henderson was nearly hit in the same spot Judge was. The animosity between the two teams atop baseball’s best division — the vaunted American League East — was percolating, with a benches-clearing incident and the shenanigans that follow seemingly a given to occur at some point this week in the Bronx.
Lesser teams would’ve let their frustration boil over, taken the bait and caused a fracas. The Orioles, as has been clear for two years, are not a lesser team.
“I am proud of how we handled it,” veteran catcher James McCann said. “Guys aren’t naive, guys understand the process of the game. But we’re going to stay even-keeled and do everything we can to win the game.”
The Yankees, MLB’s best team with a 51-26 record, were frustrated after Tuesday’s game — and understandably, to a point. Judge is perhaps the best player in baseball this season. The slugger is putting up Ruthian numbers, a 1.128 OPS and on pace for 56 homers. He was hit in the hand — other than the head, the worst place for a batter to get plunked — and panic ensued about whether something was wrong.
Judge only missed the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday’s game, returning Thursday to hit his MLB-leading 27th long ball of the season. But hours after he exited the series opener, he expressed his frustration when talking with the New York media.
“Oh, definitely pissed,” Judge said. “There was a couple balls up and in. That’s part of it. They like to throw in.”
Soto said it was “frustrating,” and outfielder Alex Verdugo, while he doesn’t believe the errant pitches from starter Albert Suárez and reliever Keegan Akin were intentional, said: “If you can’t [pitch] in, don’t go in that day.”
McCann, the catcher Tuesday night, said the hit-by-pitches to Judge and Gleyber Torres were obviously not on purpose.
The Orioles made a statement Thursday with their 17-5 bashing of the Yankees.
"That was incredible."
"It was just a complete offensive game."
"It was really fun out there today." https://t.co/0ezC2LHQ3j
— Jacob Calvin Meyer (@jcalvinmeyer) June 21, 2024
“I see it from both sides, being a catcher and calling pitches,” the 11-year veteran said. “You have to throw in. If you’re not throwing in, then really good hitters are going to be able to hang out over the plate and do damage. I don’t like to see guys get hit. I don’t like to get hit myself. I know it’s a part of the game. I know that there’s better places to get hit than not. I know that Judge got hit in one of the worst possible places, other than maybe the head. I know it wasn’t on purpose.
“I understand the issues that are taken with it, but I also know that anyone with a baseball mind knows that in that situation we’re not trying to hit Judge, we’re not trying to hit Torres.”
Later in the game, Yankees pitchers threw up and in a few times, including the most high and inside fastball to a left-handed batter Nestor Cortes has thrown this season when he brushed back Henderson. The shortstop diffused the situation after the game when asked if he thought Cortes threw at him.
“Nah, I mean, pitchers been trying to work up recently,” he said. “Just a competitive pitch. I don’t really think anything of it.”
He might have the next night, although he did his darnedest not to show it too much.
In the sixth inning Wednesday with the Orioles up 4-1, Yankees lefty Victor González plunked Henderson in the back on the first pitch of the plate appearance. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year flicked his bat like he normally does, looking a bit perturbed, but he took his free base without objection. He then stole second and scored on a double in a game the Orioles won by one.
Here's the Gunnar Henderson hit-by-pitch in the 7th: https://t.co/Ze3DHzR69U pic.twitter.com/tokOinb7mx
— Jake Rill (@JakeDRill) June 20, 2024
“Whether it was on purpose or not, I’m not going to make a comment on that,” McCann said. “But that hit by pitch turned out to be what you could say was the winning run.”
He added: “When you hit somebody on purpose, there’s a certain way to do it, and where Gunnar got hit, whether it was on purpose or not, it was in his back. It wasn’t high around his head. If it was on purpose, it was done the right way. If it wasn’t on purpose, we’re going to take our free base.”
Whether the hit by pitch was intentional is almost irrelevant since there is no way to know the truth. But many hitters would’ve reacted in a more hostile way than Henderson did, and few of them are as young as he is at 22 years old.
“It’s just a testament to the guys we have here and just the way we play ball,” Henderson said about the series win that improved Baltimore to 19-7 versus the AL East this season. “It doesn’t matter what happens, it seems like we’re always going to be out there and play our best ball and just try to win games.”
Rookie outfielder Colton Cowser was hit later in the game, slamming down his bat, which catcher Jose Trevino kicked back toward the 24-year-old. After the game, Cowser quipped: “I’ll take the on-base percentage.”
McCann, 34, said the decision to not clear the benches (or retaliate later, as the Orioles didn’t hit another batter in the series’ final two games while the Yankees plunked four) was “organic” rather than something that was explicitly discussed in the clubhouse. However, a dugout oftentimes takes the cue from the hitter. If the guy who just got drilled by a 95 mph fastball is looking for a fight, the benches will quickly clear.
“The guy that you really have to tip your cap to is Gunnar,” McCann said. “He took it like a champ. He could’ve made more out of it. It could’ve led to a benches-clearing incident, it could’ve led to warnings being given.
“Tip of the cap to Gunnar for not escalating the situation that could’ve very easily been escalated.”
The Orioles won the emotional contest, 7-6, in extra innings for a quintessential team win. Manager Brandon Hyde said he was “proud” of how his team handled this week.
“I think we kept our composure really well,” Hyde said. “We played to win. For me, that showed up [Wednesday] night.”
Throughout the week, Orioles players appeared frustrated with the needling from the New York media, resulting in a few awkward or contentious interactions. But as the lights got brighter this week, so did the Orioles’ play, culminating in a 17-5 thumping Thursday.
Games and atmospheres like the ones this week at Yankee Stadium aren’t going away for the Orioles, who are a half-game back of New York and are set to play many more highly anticipated games this season. If this week was any indication, they’ll handle those just fine.
“We’ve got a lot of hard-nosed, grinder type players that just show up and play their ass off,” veteran slugger Ryan O’Hearn said. “That was one thing I think we did a really good job of this series was tuning out the outside stuff and staying locked in on what our job was, and that’s to come here and win a series.”