Cody Bellinger went 4 for 4 with two homers and four RBIs, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-4 on Saturday for their 12th win in 14 games. The scoreboard says one thing; the hierarchy says another: the Yankees kept the pressure on from the second inning on, while Baltimore got shoved deeper into a losing streak that now sits at three straight.
Who Had the Bat, Who Took the Hit
Bellinger hit a pair of solo homers on sliders, putting the Yankees ahead in the second off Kyle Bradish and boosting the lead to 6-1 in the fifth against Keegan Akin for his 21st multi-homer game, his second this season. He also hit an RBI double in a two-run third and an RBI single in the seventh. That is what domination looks like in a box score: one hitter repeatedly cashing in, the other side trying to keep up while the game slips away.
Trent Grisham hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Jazz Chisholm Jr. had a run-scoring single in the seventh as the Yankees moved a season-high 11 games over .500 at 22-11. The Yankees' lineup kept stacking damage, and the Orioles kept absorbing it.
Ryan Weathers, hoping to remain in the rotation when Carlos Rodón and Gerrit Cole return from injuries, allowed three runs, one earned, three hits and two walks in five-plus innings. Yankees starters have a big league-best 2.62 ERA. The numbers point to a machine built to keep control, with the rotation and lineup both doing their part while the Orioles were left chasing.
Who Gets Squeezed
Baltimore lost its third straight and dropped to 0-7 against left-handed starters. Peter Alonso homered for the second straight day in his first trip to New York since leaving the Mets for the Orioles. His sixth home run this season was his fourth in nine games. Even that bit of resistance came inside a game the Yankees had already bent to their will.
Bellinger's 363-foot drive into the right-field short porch in the second would not have been a home run in any other big league ballpark, according to MLB Statcast. The park itself becomes part of the apparatus here, a little piece of built-in advantage that turns a short porch into another edge for the home side.
Jasson Domínguez went 1 for 4 as he returned to the Yankees' lineup for the first time since he was struck on his left elbow by a pitch on Wednesday. New York's Giancarlo Stanton said he hit in an indoor cage Friday for the first time since straining his right calf while running the bases at Houston on April 23. The Yankees had to pause their end-of-game celebration for a few seconds while Blaze Alexander unsuccessfully appealed a called third strike.
What Comes Next in the Machine
Up next, Yankees LHP Max Fried, who is 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA, starts Sunday against Orioles RHP Trey Gibson, a 23-year-old being called up for his major league debut after going 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA in six starts at Triple-A Norfolk. The pipeline keeps feeding bodies into the same structure, with one side sending out another polished arm and the other bringing up a debutant to face the grind.
The Yankees' 12th win in 14 games, their season-high 11 games over .500, and their big league-best 2.62 ERA all sit on the same side of the ledger. Baltimore's third straight loss, its 0-7 mark against left-handed starters, and the gap between the two clubs sit on the other. The game was never just about one four-hit night; it was about who had the leverage, who had the depth, and who got flattened by the setup.