Aaron Judge may be playing in another stratosphere right now, but just about the only feat he has yet to accomplish is pitching.
The Yankees came up short in that department on Wednesday night to waste another stellar night from their captain.
Carlos Carrasco got knocked around for four runs in the second inning to put the Yankees in a hole that they could not quite make it all the way back from, falling to the Orioles 5-4 to drop the series at Camden Yards.
Judge went 3-for-3 with a home run, an intentional walk and two RBIs to finish the month of April batting .427 with 10 homers and a 1.282 OPS.
But he was left in the on-deck circle when Orioles closer Félix Bautista struck out Trent Grisham to end the game.
“I was thinking one of those guys [Paul Goldschmidt or Grisham] was going to get on and we were going to make some magic happen,” Judge said. “We weren’t able to come through, but I want those guys in front of me in a big spot every single time, trying to set the table. They got us this time, we just got to bounce back. We’ll get them back.”
Carrasco lasted only 3 ¹/₃ innings while giving up four runs on eight hits on a night when he did not have a sharp slider.
Aaron Judge belts a two-run homer in the first inning of the Yankees’ 5-4 loss to the Orioles on April 30, 2025.
The veteran right-hander, who needs to have pinpoint command because of his diminished velocity, threw a first-pitch strike to only eight of the 18 batters he faced.
That particularly hurt him in a four-run second inning in which he consistently fell behind in the count.
It was a 1-0 count when Jackson Holliday hit a leadoff single and 1-0 when Ryan Mountcastle crushed a slider — it was supposed to be down and away but hung up in the middle of the plate — for a two-run shot that tied the game.
Then it was 2-0 when Ramón Urías drilled a fastball for a solo shot and the 3-2 lead.
The Yankees and Orioles benches briefly cleared in the bottom of the fourth after Pablo Reyes landed on Heston Kjerstad’s head after leaping to catch a throw at second base.
Carrasco was ahead 1-2 when Gunnar Henderson singled, but then fell behind 2-0 to Adley Rutschman, who delivered an RBI single to put the Orioles up 4-2.
“My slider’s really important to [my] game but I couldn’t find it,” said Carrasco, who has alternated rough and solid starts and owns a 5.90 ERA. “I was behind, trying to get ahead of the count with my slider like I always do, but I couldn’t locate it.”
After Goldschmidt clubbed his second home run of the year to pull the Yankees (18-13) within 4-3 in the top of the fifth, the Orioles (12-18) added an insurance run in the bottom of the inning off Tim Hill that proved to be the difference.
Hill, who relieved Carrasco in the bottom of the fourth and stranded a runner on second, walked back-to-back hitters to lead off the fifth.
Ramón Laureano then hit a ground ball up the middle that Anthony Volpe booted to load the bases for Holliday, who drove in a run on a fielder’s choice to make it 5-3.
In a game where the benches cleared in the bottom of the fourth — set off by Pablo Reyes landing on Heston Kjerstad’s head after leaping to knock down a throw at second base, though the kerfuffle quickly fizzled out — Judge nearly put the Yankees on his back again.
Benches clear as Heston Kjerstad (13) and Pablo Reyes (19) argue after Kjerstad stole second base during the fourth inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Orioles.
For the second straight night, he clobbered a first-inning home run, this one with Grisham on first base for the 2-0 lead off left-hander Cade Povich.
The reigning AL MVP then delivered again in the seventh, when the Orioles decided to pitch to him with two outs and Oswald Peraza on third base and Judge delivered a single through the left side to make it a 5-4 game.
“It’s remarkable, obviously,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I always say we’re running out of superlatives or things to say about it. But what he’s doing, he’s playing a different game.”
Gunnar Henderson rounds third base to score a run on Adley Rutschman single during the second inning of the Yankees’ loss to the Orioles.
But it proved to be the Yankees’ only hit with runners in scoring position as they went 1-for-6 on the night and stranded seven.
“The most important thing is trying to stay in first place,” Judge said as his club stayed 1 ¹/₂ games ahead of the Red Sox as the calendar flipped to May. “That’s what it’s all about, especially our division, we got a tough division. You don’t like losing, dropping a series against a division rival here. But keeping hold of first place, that’s what it’s all about.”
