Friends, we knew this Orioles/Yankees series was going to be a hard-fought, bloody scuffle. I just didn’t know the teams would take that description quite so literally.
The O’s lost the opener to the Yankees, 4-2, after their starting pitcher and their offense both short-circuited, but it was a pretty gruesome game on both sides. By the fifth inning, four different players had been battered, bruised, and bloodied. And we’ve still got two more games to play.
The carnage began in the top of the first inning with Adley Rutschman, who took a hard dive back into second base on a pickoff attempt and then came up with a bloody nose that required a visit from the trainer.