Yankees can't get timely hit they need, fall to Orioles
Anthony Volpe of the New York Yankees reacts after striking out to end the seventh inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Massive crowds of fans were waiting on line more than four hours before game time on Friday outside Yankee Stadium.
Was it because the Yankees were facing one of their AL East rivals, the Baltimore Orioles?
No. It was because the Yankees gave out Aaron Judge Superman bobbleheads, but only to the first 18,000 fans.
Judge rewarded all Yankees fans in attendance with his 27th home run, a solo shot in the third inning that gave his team a one-run lead.
But Luke Weaver — just off the injured list — allowed a go-ahead home run to the first batter he faced in the eighth and the Orioles went on to beat the Yankees, 5-3, before a sellout crowd of 47,034.
Ramon Urias took Weaver to the short porch in right on a 3-and-2 pitch to snap a 3-3 tie. Judge came up short on his attempt to snag the 337-foot home run. The real Superman may be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but the 6-7 Judge could not haul in Urias’ drive.
Weaver got only two outs in his first appearance back from a hamstring strain. He left with two on and was charged with another run when pinch hitter Gunnar Henderson greeted Tim Hill with an RBI single to make it 5-3.
“I feel great,” Weaver said. “The only thing that hurts is my heart and my mind.”
Judge’s 368-foot homer to right had given the Yankees a 3-2 lead. The Yankees, who have lost seven of eight, scored three runs in the first three innings and none after that.
The Yankees had a chance to tack on in the fourth, but DJ LeMahieu, who had led off the inning with a double, was thrown out at the plate by Ramon Laureano on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s two-out single to right.
The Yankees had 10 hits and drew five walks through six innings but went 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 10 on base in that span. They then went down in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Judge, who had four hits and a walk in his last five plate appearances dating to Thursday, struck out against Felix Bautista in the ninth, as did Chisholm to end it.
The Yankees were unable to build on Thursday’s 7-3 victory over the Angels, one that ended a six-game losing streak and a stretch in which they scored seven runs in seven games.
Max Fried hit two batters and allowed two runs in the first on former Yankee Gary Sanchez’s two-out, two-run single.
“I was off a little bit, just out of sync mechanically, and just didn’t really have a good feel for anything,” Fried said. “Tried to make some pitches and no excuses — hitting two guys in an inning and getting bases loaded and then giving up the hit, putting us in a hole. So definitely frustrating.”
The Yankees tied it in the bottom half on an RBI single by Chisholm and a sacrifice fly by Jasson Dominguez against righthander Tomoyuki Sugano.
Coby Mayo’s RBI single in the sixth tied the score at 3. After the hit, Yankees manager Aaron Boone came out to talk to Fried. Fernando Cruz started jogging in from the bullpen but then had to go back because Boone hadn’t actually made the signal for a reliever. Cruz returned to the bullpen and Fried retired the next two batters to end his evening with three runs allowed in six innings.
The Yankees’ lack of hitting of late has allowed the rest of the division to cut into a once-large AL East lead.
The Rays moved within 1 1⁄2 games of the first-place Yankees. Last Saturday, it was 4 1⁄2 games, and at its most recent high point on May 28, the Yankees had a seven-game lead.
Baltimore, a 91-win wild-card team in 2024, started off terribly in 2025 and fired manager Brandon Hyde on May 18 after going 15-28. Still in last place, the Orioles are 33-42, but the Yankees’ struggles — they are 8-12 against the AL East — are giving the entire division hope.
“All good teams go through little slumps or situations where it’s not going your way,” Judge said. “Just got to keep trekking. Moving forward.”
And as for the bobblehead — which already was being offered on eBay for upwards of $150 — Judge said: “I haven’t seen it. I didn’t get one.”
Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.
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