In late April, the Yankees dropped a three-game set to the Orioles. Despite clobbering the O’s 15-3 in the middle game, that performance was bookended by two one-run losses in which the Yankees failed to take advantage of their opportunities at the dish against a team that was scuffling so badly that it would fire its skipper within a couple weeks.

The fellow in the manager’s seat has changed since then, but that same previous theme continued tonight in the Bronx as Baltimore squeaked out a close 5-3 win to open this weekend series. Ramón Urías’ go-ahead home run in the eighth inning propelled the Birds ahead after the Yankees lost their lead in the sixth, and the Bombers stranded 10 runners on base as Baltimore’s lackluster bullpen shut them down.

The Orioles quickly got on the board first courtesy of an old friend. Max Fried struggled with his command out of the gate, hitting a pair of batters and loading the bases with two men out for Gary Sánchez. The former Yankee got a hittable sweeper over the middle of the plate and roped a two-run single through the left side to stake Baltimore to a 2-0 lead. Fried was forced to throw 29 pitches to get out of the first inning.

Immediately the pressure was on for the Yankees offense to prove that they were back in working order. They got their chance when Tomoyuki Sugano walked the first two batters ahead of Aaron Judge, who poked a single to center to load the bases. Then Jazz Chisholm Jr. cashed in by slicing a breaking ball the other way to left for a run-scoring hit to quickly cut the lead in half.

Sugano caught a break when he struck out Giancarlo Stanton on a hittable sweeper, and traded a second run for a second out when Jasson Domínguez tagged a ball deep out to left-center to tie the game. Finally, Anthony Volpe put a good swing on a ball and also tested the left-center gap, but Colton Cowser tracked it down to extend Volpe’s hitless streak to 21 straight at-bats. (Volpe came up empty in three more plate appearances tonight.)

Ultimately the Yanks forced Sugano to throw 50 pitches in the first two innings, and spotted their ace a mulligan. Fried quickly took back control with an 12-pitch 1-2-3 second, then retired the side in order again in the third.

Judge rewarded Fried for his bounceback by grabbing his regularly-scheduled home run against Oriole pitching. On his Superman bobblehead night, the Yankees’ man of steel jumped on a fastball from Sugano and knocked it over the right-field wall for his 27th home run of the season, a most welcome sign given his recent struggles. That gave New York its first lead of the game.

Sugano labored through another long inning, stranding a pair of baserunners to limp through three innings. Meanwhile, Fried worked around a Coby Mayo to post another zero in the fourth, finishing off Dylan Carlson with a beautiful 12-6 curveball for his sixth strikeout.

After DJ LeMahieu led off the fourth inning with a double, Sugano was set to face Judge a third time with two out. Interim manager Tony Mansolino promptly put the Yankee captain on first with an intentional walk and removed Sugano in favor of lefty Keegan Akin to face Chisholm. Jazz got the job done with a line drive single to right, but Ramón Laureano threw out LeMahieu at the dish to preserve the 3-2 score. Aaron Boone’s challenge was unsuccessful—there wasn’t enough evidence to overturn the call. You be the umpire!

The relief of seeing the Yankees on top camouflaged the fact that they stranded eight runners on base after five innings, and their one-run lead was vulnerable. They’d come up empty in the fourth thanks to that play at the plate, then wasted an opportunity in the fifth after Akin walked a pair to start the frame. Angst grew at the Stadium as the O’s got a pair on against Fried in the sixth. Then his 101st pitch of the night was dunked into center field by the rookie Mayo for a game-tying single.

Boone came up to the mound and Fernando Cruz jogged out of the bullpen gate. Problem was, no signal was made. After Cruz awkwardly retreated back to the ‘pen, Fried managed to retire the side and complete six innings. He finished the night with his ERA sitting at 2.05, with seven strikeouts and no walks. It was a great performance from the lefty considering how he started, but the Yankee offense had some more work to do.

With two outs in the sixth, Judge collected his third hit of the game against Yennier Cano, who has had his struggles against the Bombers in the past. Up came Jazz, seeking his third knock of the game. Instead he poked a ball back to Cano, who recorded the final out to strand the Yankees’ eighth and ninth runner of the evening.

After an uneventful seventh, Luke Weaver, activated off the injured list this morning, made his return in the eighth inning. The first batter he faced was Ramón Urías, who greeted him rudely with a fly ball to the short porch to put the Orioles back on top.

A walk to Sánchez and a pinch-hit single from Ryan O’Hearn set up an insurance opportunity for Gunnar Henderson, also coming off the bench. Boone yanked Weaver in favor of Hill, but Baltimore’s star shortstop came through anyway with an opposite field single to score Sánchez and make it 5-3 O’s. Hill was then tardy covering first on a dribbler from Jackson Holliday, but redeemed his gaffe by gunning down O’Hearn at third base to end the frame.

The Yankees went down in order in the eighth thanks to some larceny from Jordan Westburg. If they were going to find a way to win this game, they’d need to score at least two runs against Félix Bautista. Such a rally was not forthcoming. The big Oriole closer retired the heart of the Yankee lineup in order to notch his ninth straight scoreless appearance and seal another irritating loss for the men in pinstripes. The second-place Rays scored double-digit runs against the Tigers, putting them in position to cut the Yankees’ AL East lead to 1.5

New York has to hope this deeply frustrating stretch doesn’t continue tomorrow. Clarke Schmidt has looked outstanding in his last two starts, and will oppose the struggling Zach Eflin. Once again the onus will be on the offense to make things happen. First pitch is set for 1:05pm ET on YES.

Box Score