On the heels of a relatively rare loss to open up their series in Baltimore, the Yankees headed into the second game looking to turn things around. The Orioles were coming off an AL East crown and back-to-back playoff appearances, but they were underachieving while floating around .500. At this point, they weren’t a team that New York expected to lose to, but that’s what they did the night before.
The Yankees hadn’t lost back-to-back games since the end of May, and impressively, they hadn’t dropped a series since the very start of ‘98, when they went 0-2 in Anaheim.