About Last Night: Orioles 5, Yanks 4

By Andy Singer

May 1st, 2025

The Big Story

One bad inning from an expected source lost the Yankees this series. It was a hard-fought game, with plenty of back-and-forth, but the Orioles' 4-run 2nd inning proved to be too much for the Yankees to overcome. Carlos Carrasco took the mound for the Yankees, and despite his status as the 5th starter, he's an easy guy to root for. Unfortunately, he's proven early this season that while he can piece together a decent start against the soft middle of the American League, it's tough to count on him to produce respectable results against the Yankees' toughest competition. Carrasco just didn't have enough stuff, and when he came into the strike zone, the Orioles made him pay. In that 2nd inning, Ryan Mountcastle and Luis Urias each homered, while Adley Rutschman singled home the 4th run to complete the damage.

While the starting pitching put the Yankees in a hole, the offense did their best to make a game of it. In the 1st inning, Judge hammered a 2-run homer over the deep CF fence at Camden Yards to give the Yanks a 2-run lead. In the 5th, Goldschmidt pulled the Yankees to within one with a shot to CF of his own. Unfortunately, Tim Hill and Anthony Volpe allowed the O's to extend the lead to 5-3 in the 5th inning, and that proved to be too much for the Yankees to overcome.

The Yankees threatened in both the 6th and 7th innings, with Judge bringing the Yankees to within one with an RBI single in the 7th, but they just couldn't quite get it done. The Yankee bullpen was excellent overall, but neither the offense or the bullpen could overcome a poor, short start from Carlos Carrasco.

A Deeper Dive

A Bad Cookie

As I said above, Carlos Carrasco is an easy guy to root for: he beat cancer, and he's widely considered one of baseball's good guys who remains an excellent clubhouse presence. Unfortunately, he struggles to get the job done against teams with good lineups. With last night's loss, Carrasco's ERA ballooned to 5.90. His longest start was 5.1 innings back on April 3rd. We criticize Aaron Boone a lot around here, but he knows that he can't allow Carrasco to face a lineup multiple times, even when he's going well.

Last night, Carrasco got hit hard whenever he challenged hitters. When you review his pitch chart from last night, he largely worked around the edges of the zone:

Click to Enlarge

It's a mix of edge pitches and non-competitive pitches, which is exactly where Carrasco needs to live. It further illustrates that good hitters will hit Carrasco when he comes into the strike zone. Unfortunately, it further proves the Yankees' need to find a new fifth starter.

The Yanks had a chance to take 2 of 3 from a division rival. Inadequate starting pitching was largely the cause.

All Rise

I don't know that there's anything left to say about Judge's incredible performances. For years, I have said that Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, and Mike Trout were the most dominant players I ever witnessed, with Bonds being the best hitter I ever saw (regardless of the steroid conversation), and Griffey and Trout being the best all-around players I ever saw. Over the last few years, Judge has eclipsed them all. The 2025 version of Aaron Judge may be the best yet.

It has become nearly impossible to hit a baseball at the Major League Level. Offensive performance is near all-time lows in the modern game, evidenced by total performance indicators and more classical indexes, such as batting average, alike. After last night's game, Aaron Judge is hitting .427. That's on May 1st, which is nearly unheard of in any era. He's getting on-base in more than 40% of his plate appearances, even rarer. Compare his numbers to anyone in baseball history, and they match-up right now. Judge is simply the best, and he may be playing the best baseball of anyone in the modern era. That's saying something.

Last night, Judge went 3-3, and he looked to be in complete control at all times. He can swing for the fences, as he did in the first inning, and he can cut his swing down, as he did in the 5th inning to slash a single. The catch phrase Yankees fans have coined for Judge just fits: All Rise.

Benches Clear

Some fans might be a bit perturbed that the benches cleared in the 4th inning on Heston Kjerstad's stolen base last night. For once, I'll give him a pass. Immediately, I remembered the sickening site of watching Kjerstad get beaned by a fastball last year, and I'm sure tensions are high when anyone or anything makes contact with his head when he plays the Yankees.

To be clear, Pablo Reyes did nothing wrong; he went for the ball and gravity dictated that he had to come down. It was just an unfortunate play. Luckily, both teams were able to move on.

Poor J-Dom

I remain very high on Jasson Dominguez, but one problem is readily apparent, and it's one I and others noted before the season began: his right-handed swing is significantly behind the development of his left-handed swing. Last night, Dominguez produced hard contact batting right-handed in his first at-bat, but he came up empty-handed with the game on the line in the Top of the 6th inning. With runners at the corners and 2-outs, Dominguez batted right-handed, working the count, but also taking some ugly looking swings. Dominguez eventually struck out looking, and it was likely the Yankees' best chance to get back in the game. Despite Dominguez's late-inning heroics a couple of weeks ago batting right-handed, he's been really bad from that side of the plate. Compare his platoon splits so far:

vs RHP as a LHB: .321/.387/.500, .887 OPS

vs LHP as a RHB: .094/.237/.188, .424 OPS

He is one of the Yankees' best hitters when he bats left-handed, and one of their worst batting right-handed. Something has to give soon.

Notable Performances

Judge: 3-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI

Goldschmidt: 1-5, 1 HR

Yankee Bullpen: 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 K, 3 BB

Better to Forget

Carrasco: 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 5 K, 8 H, 2 HR, 7 Hard Hit Balls

Bottom of the Order (7-9): 0-10

Ben Rice: 0-4, 2 K

Looking to Tomorrow

The Yanks get a day off prior to the start of a big series with the Rays.