Yankees use unlikely homer to beat Corbin Burnes and the Orioles 2-0

The odds of this happening are pretty low.

But they aren’t zero, as was evident Wednesday night.

With Jose Trevino on base in the fifth, Oswaldo Cabrera swung at the first pitch from Corbin Burnes and sent it soaring to right field. He signaled home run and proceeded to round the bases. Heston Kjerstad, stationed right below where the ball landed, claimed it was foul.

The Orioles challenged, but the call was confirmed. The ball landed not to the left or to the right of the foul pole, as each team claimed, but rather in it. It got stuck in the netting, which classifies as fair.

“I didn’t think [it was out],” Burnes said. “I joked that if the pole was maybe 325 vs. 318 it probably would have been a foul ball. He put a good swing on a good pitch.”

And, in this case, that two-run home run was all the Yankees would need, as New York beat the Orioles 2-0 in Game 3 of the four-game set at Camden Yards.

“Just a really well-pitched game, unbelievably well-pitched game from both sides,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We pitched well; they pitched us a little bit better.”

The series will wrap up with a day game Thursday, with the Orioles’ starter to be determined. It could be Kyle Bradish, who would be making his first start of the season after being on the injured list with an elbow sprain.

Burnes’ start prior to that home run pitch, and after, was stellar. He pitched six innings, allowing four hits and one walk on 96 pitches. He struck out six, using his cutter and slider in big moments, and generated 14 swings and misses.

His ERA in seven starts is 2.61.

The Orioles offense did nothing to help. The team had no answers against Yankees starter Luis Gil, who pitched 6 1/3 innings and allowed just two hits. Heston Kjerstad, starting for just the second time after his recall eight days ago, got one of those, in addition to a diving catch. Jordan Westburg had the other hit, a single in the fifth.

“I thought we got pitched extremely tough,” Hyde said. “Gil has a really good arm, he has a ton of life to his fastball, and we had a lot of trouble getting on top of the zone. We hit a lot of pop-ups and got beat a lot with his fastball. He had a good changeup too to keep us honest. Give him credit.”

They had their best chance once Gil was out, in the eighth, when Cedric Mullins walked and Kjerstad was hit by a pitch, putting two men on base with no outs. They did nothing with the opportunity — pinch-hitting Anthony Santander popped out on the first pitch, and Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman both struck out swinging.

Yohan Ramírez, the freshest arm in the bullpen but also the most likely candidate to be designated for assignment to make room for Bradish, handled the middle of the Yankees lineup in the top of the ninth to keep it 2-0. Ryan O’Hearn opened the bottom of the ninth with a single, but the Orioles couldn’t build on it.

Danielle Allentuck

danielle.allentuck@thebaltimorebanner.com

Danielle Allentuck covers the Orioles for The Baltimore Banner. She previously reported on the Rockies for the Denver Gazette and general sports assignments for The New York Times as part of its fellowship program. A Maryland native, Danielle grew up in Montgomery County and graduated from Ithaca College.

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