James Paxton loses in debut as Yankees fall to Orioles

It does not take much to put the Yankees in crisis mode, so losing to the rebuilding Orioles in the second game of the season was enough to set off something of an alarm.

And it came from none other than Aaron Judge, who basically said Sunday’s final game of the series is must-win.

“We still have that mindset our backs are against the wall every single game,’’ Judge said after Saturday’s sloppy 5-3 loss at Yankee Stadium.

He even referenced the 2017 postseason as an example. “Going down to Cleveland and Houston two games and our backs were up against the wall and we came out and played our butts off,’’ he said, “so that's gotta be our mindset going into this last game. Our backs are against the wall. We can't take anybody lightly.'’

Judge even took a shot at the Yankees’ defense, which committed three errors and allowed two unearned runs. “When you make errors in the major leagues, they come back to bite you,’’ he said.

The Yankees scored two runs in the ninth inning and had the winning run at the plate but ultimately could not overcome their mistakes in the field or missed opportunities at the plate. They left 11 men on base.

With the Orioles leading 5-1, Troy Tulowitzki led off the ninth with his first home run since July 2017 on an 0-and-2 pitch from Richard Bleier. DJ LeMahieu followed with a double.

With the right side of the infield playing back, Brett Gardner tried to bunt for a base hit but fouled off the pitch before lining out to center. Judge singled to left-center, sending LeMahieu to third, but Mike Wright relieved Bleier and struck out Giancarlo Stanton on a 3-and-2 pitch. He allowed a bloop single by Luke Voit that made it 5-3 and put runners on first and third but struck out Miguel Andujar to end the game.

“Adrenaline is going through the roof in a situation like that, which is normal,’’ Andujar said through his translator. "You just have to take that as experience. It'll  be better next time.’’

The Yankees were unable to take advantage of a good scoring opportunity well before the ninth. 

With one out in the first inning, Orioles opener Nate Karns walked Judge, Stanton and Voit to load the bases. Andujar then hit a comebacker to Karns, who threw home to start an inning-ending 1-2-3 double play.

“I just wanted to hit the ball hard,’’ Andujar said. ”Unfortunately, it didn't go our way on that one.’’

Yankees starter James Paxton brought a 1-0 lead into the sixth inning, courtesy of LeMahieu's two-out single in the fourth. But three of the first four batters in the sixth singled off Paxton, with a grounder up the middle by Jesus Sucre (three hits, three RBIs), Richie Martin's blooper behind first base and Dwight Smith Jr.’s one-out grounder through the right side tying the score at 1.  When the Orioles attempted a double steal,  Gary Sanchez chose to fire to second instead of third and bounced his throw into centerfield, allowing the second run to score.

"I've made that throw many times before,’’ Sanchez said through his translator. “I felt if I make an accurate throw, we got that guy out. Unfortunately, I felt like I pulled on the ball a little bit and I bounced that throw. And that's my fault. I take responsibility for that play. If I do that, they don't score. ‘’

The Orioles scored twice in the ninth to take a four-run lead, helped by LeMahieu's two-base throwing error to first — Voit was unable to come up with his throw in the dirt — after making a nice stop on Joey Rickard's hard-hit ball to third.  “Tough play for him,’’ LeMahieu said of Voit. “Unfortunate timing.’’  

So, albeit early, it’s a one-game showdown in Judge’s estimation. "Every game’s so important,’’ he said. “You can go at the end of the year and look back … Even last year we did that, so many missed opportunities in games we should have won but we just didn't come up with a big hit or [had] a costly error, stuff like that. Every game’s important.’’