BALTIMORE — A dramatic turn of events unfolded in just twelve minutes on Monday night. At 8:27 p.m., the Baltimore Orioles seemed to be stumbling aimlessly toward another dispiriting defeat, one that threatened to rank among their worst this season. Through six innings, New York Yankees pitcher Ryan Weathers had held them hitless, further exposing the team’s well-documented struggles against left-handed starters—what manager Craig Albernaz bluntly called their “Achilles heel.”
But twelve minutes later, the Orioles roared back to life, silencing a vocal contingent of Yankees fans at Camden Yards with a 3-2 victory. In the seventh inning, Adley Rutschman finally broke up Weathers’ no-hit bid, setting the stage for an unlikely hero. Coby Mayo, inserted into the lineup just 50 minutes before first pitch after Samuel Basallo was scratched, crushed the third pitch he saw from left-handed reliever Brent Headrick over the left-field wall for a three-run homer. The blast served as redemption for Mayo, whose error in the ninth inning on Thursday had cost the Orioles a game against the Miami Marlins.
Baltimore’s bullpen locked down the one-run lead from there. Rico Garcia and Anthony Nunez shut the door, with Nunez earning the save. The rookie received crucial help from right fielder Tyler O’Neill, who made a leaping catch at the wall, and from Rutschman, who threw out a would-be basestealer. A pivotal challenge by manager Craig Albernaz overturned an initial safe call at second base, sending the home crowd of 23,160 into celebration.
The win marked Baltimore’s first of the season against the Yankees, after being swept in a four-game series in New York two weekends ago. The Orioles had not held a lead in any of the first 42 innings they played against the Yankees this year, but Mayo’s homer changed that. Now, at 19-23 and sitting 8.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East, the Orioles hope this victory can spark a turnaround.
Orioles hitting coach Dustin Lind had said Sunday that the team’s woes against lefty starters were largely due to small-sample randomness and predicted they would even out. He noted that facing pitchers a second time, like Weathers on Monday, could help. However, for six innings, the bats remained lifeless. Weathers struck out nine of the first 18 batters he retired and issued a few walks, but the no-hit bid was broken up by Rutschman before it could reach the ninth inning. The performance echoed a mid-April game against Cleveland Guardians lefty Parker Messick, who carried a no-hit bid into the ninth before Leody Taveras ended it. That marked the third time since 2024 that the Orioles had broken up a no-hitter in the ninth inning, making them only the third team in MLB’s expansion era (since 1961) to accomplish that feat in three consecutive seasons.
Monday’s outcome also avoided what would have been the eighth no-hitter thrown against the Orioles since they moved to Baltimore in 1954. The most recent was by Seattle’s Hisashi Iwakuma on August 12, 2015.
