The Orioles understand the Yankees’ frustration.
After Aaron Judge’s left hand caught a 94-mph fastball on Tuesday that required tests (which came back negative) — two innings before Gleyber Torres also had his hand worked out and came away uninjured but in pain — the Yankees’ locker room was upset, not because Baltimore’s pitchers were chasing with their hands, but because they lacked control and were unwilling to come forward and penetrate.
The Yankees’ outrage was “justified,” said Orioles relief pitcher Dillon Tate.
“Any team would be upset about something like that,” Tate said. “It’s part of the game.”
That was the refrain of the visiting Orioles ahead of a game in the Bronx on Wednesday that had both teams on alert for a possible carryover of the previous night’s score.
“I think getting hit is a terrible part of the game, unfortunately, and I don’t think anyone wants to see anybody get hit,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. “I don’t want to see their guys get hit. I don’t want to see our guys get hit.”
“If something like that happens – because it probably happens in New York, it’s a little bit of a bigger deal – but we just don’t want that to happen.”
The Yankees didn’t believe Judge (who was hurt by a 1-2 fastball from Albert Suarez) and Torres (a 0-1, 93 mph fastball from Keegan Akin) were the target.
Rather, Judge admitted after the game that it made him “pissed off” that Baltimore’s pitchers continued to throw high and tight.
Judge missed 45 games in 2018 after Kansas City’s Jakob Junis broke his wrist on a fastball and was not in the starting lineup on Wednesday.
“Any time a pitch goes up and inside, it’s concerning, especially when it comes to Aaron, but it’s also part of the game,” manager Aaron Boone said. “You have to pitch on both sides of the plate. But any time a player goes out because of a hit-by-pitch, it’s obviously concerning.”
“But it’s also baseball.”
The same was true of a game on Tuesday that Hyde described as “strange.”
Juan Soto, running from second to third base after a ground ball to left in the first inning, collided with Orioles third baseman Jordan Westburg.
Soto was ruled out for runner interference and Westburg soon left the game with left hip discomfort.
“I don’t think anyone really thought about it,” Tate, a former Yankees player, said of the game. “They both just wanted to win.”
Westburg was not on the roster Wednesday, but GM Mike Elias said he was confident the talented young infielder could avoid a stint on the injured list.
