Orioles' pitching depth exposed in opening loss to Yankees

NEW YORK -- The Yankees and the Orioles are the top two teams in the American League, and the AL East rivals stack up similarly in a lot of ways.

The Yankees lead the Majors with a 3.01 ERA, while the Orioles rank second at 3.09. Baltimore leads MLB with 115 homers, and New York is second with 110. The Yanks and O’s rank first and second in the AL in runs scored with 378 and 366, respectively.

Also, New York owns an MLB-best rotation ERA of 2.86, with Baltimore’s starters ranking second in the AL with a 3.03 mark. But those numbers don’t tell the entire story regarding where these staffs stand, as evidenced by Tuesday night’s series opener at Yankee Stadium.

While New York left-hander Nestor Cortes was dominant over six scoreless innings, Baltimore righty Albert Suárez couldn’t make it through the fourth in the Orioles’ 4-2 loss. The Yankees (51-24) extended their AL East lead to 2 1/2 games over the O’s (47-25) in the first of three games between the AL powerhouses.

“They’re the Yankees; you know that they’re a good team. They’re always at the top of the division, and we always play really tough series,” outfielder Austin Hays said. “They were the better team tonight.”

The Yanks’ stout rotation is only getting stronger, as reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole will return from a right elbow injury to make his season debut Wednesday. He’ll join a staff that already features Cortes, lefty Carlos Rodón and righties Marcus Stroman and Luis Gil (the emerging AL Rookie of the Year frontrunner who will start Thursday’s finale).

On the other side, the Orioles won’t send either of their top two starters (Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez) to the mound this week in the Bronx. With the status of Kyle Bradish (right UCL sprain) in question -- and both lefty John Means (Tommy John surgery) and righty Tyler Wells (UCL revision surgery) out for the season -- Baltimore’s depth is being tested.

Suárez (a 2.05 ERA in 48 1/3 innings) has been a surprise story in 2024, returning to MLB after five years in Japan and Korea and becoming a key member of the O’s pitching staff. However, he was uncharacteristically wild against the Yankees, issuing a career-high five walks while allowing three runs in 3 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old right-hander threw only 49 of his 96 pitches for strikes.

“He was behind in the count a lot. This team doesn’t chase,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “Just a lot of balls. Didn’t get hit hard, but just unlike him to walk five guys.”

New York’s lineup is challenging to navigate, with sluggers like Juan Soto (three walks), Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton (RBI single) in the heart of the order. But Suárez didn’t use that as an excuse for his shortest start of the season in his first career appearance vs. the Yanks.

“I don’t focus on how tough they are. I just focus on how I can execute,” Suárez said. “And today, I didn’t.”

Meanwhile, Cortes executed quite well. The 29-year-old left-hander allowed five hits -- only two over his final four frames -- and struck out six without issuing a walk, effectively using every offering in a five-pitch mix that features a four-seam fastball, cutter, sweeper, changeup and slider.

It’s similar to what the Orioles have seen previously from Cortes, who owns a 2.20 ERA in 11 career games (nine starts) against Baltimore.

“He just didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes,” Hays said. “We battled, battled, battled, just waiting for him to slip up and miss middle with a couple more pitches. But he just didn’t do that, and we just couldn’t really get anything going.”

The O’s have either won or split 21 straight AL East series. To keep that franchise-record run going, they’ll need to win the next two nights in New York, where left-handers Cade Povich (the club’s No. 9 prospect per MLB Pipeline) and Cole Irvin will take the mound for Baltimore.

Before the July 30 Trade Deadline, the Orioles might need to reinforce their rotation in order to keep pace with the Yankees in the battle for a division title. That will especially be the case if Bradish’s injury is a long-term concern and the back three starters can’t provide consistent success throughout the summer.

So even though this series in the Bronx has a big-time feel -- amplified by a sellout crowd of 47,429 on Tuesday night -- the O’s don’t view the next two games as must-win contests, keeping the big picture in mind during their pursuit of a second straight AL East title.

“It’s still June, so we’ve still got, what, three, four months left to play?” shortstop Gunnar Henderson said. “Still a lot of games left. I mean, obviously, you want to win every series you can against an AL East rival. But at the same time, it’s still a long season.”