BALTIMORE — Gleyber Torres and Chad Green blew it and then Tyler Wade and Brett Gardner saved the Yankees’ season Wednesday night. After Green and Torres combined to cough up a one run lead in the eighth, Wade’s baserunning and Gardner’s two-run single saved it in a 4-3 win over the Orioles at Camden Yards.
“I think that our guys know what’s at stake here,” Gardner said. “We’re not necessarily happy with the way our season’s gone up to this point and where we’re at in the standings, but we still have a great opportunity ahead of us.”
That opportunity is still there because the Yankees didn’t lose to the 99-loss Orioles Wednesday night.
Trailing by a run, Luke Voit worked a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth. Torres singled and then he and pinch runner Wade advanced on a double steal. That allowed them to score on Gardner’s single to left field. Aroldis Chapman, who has struggled at times this season, had a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his 27th save of the season.
That allowed the Yankees to keep pace with the Blue Jays and Red Sox, who they are in a virtual tie with for the two American League Wild Cards. But they also exposed some concerns heading down the stretch of their final 16 games.
Green gave up a two-run bomb in the bottom of the eighth to Anthony Santander — the added run courtesy of Torres’ mistake — to blow a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
Torres had a chance to at least limit the damage the hitter before. With Austin Wynns on first, Cedric Mullins hit a ground ball to second, but Torres never even looked for the force out there and fired to first base. He got Mullins, but the throw back was not in time and the lead runner was safe. After getting Ryan Mountcastle to strike out, Green gave up the bomb to Santander.
It was the career-high 14th homer that Green has allowed this season in his major-league leading 74th appearance of the year.
Still with Zack Britton lost for the season and Jonathan Loaisiga on the injured list, Aaron Boone said he still has to go to Green.
“I feel like stuff wise right now Greenie is throwing the ball well,” the Yankees manager said. “Obviously, he’s been leaned on a lot. Probably even a little unfairly and there’s some of that but we’ll try and get him days here when we can to keep him fresh, but he’s going to be a guy we go to and in big spots moving forward and and he’s going to deliver.”
Torres had already been demoted from the everyday shortstop because of his defensive woes, he had 18 errors there before Boone moved him on Monday. His manager wasn’t pointing fingers Wednesday night.
“Obviously the hard hit ball and kind of that short hop, so a good job of stopping it, I think initially Wynn kind of freezing on him a little bit, just threw him off,” Boone said. “Obviously it was a play where he should end up going second he had the time. But ended up taking the out at first.”
With 16 games left for the Yankees to get one of those Wild Card spots, the Bombers have to figure out what to do with players who have had a negative impact down the stretch. Green has looked spent for the last few weeks and Torres was not only demoted for his defense, but Tuesday night Boone pulled him in part because he didn’t run out a ground ball.
They also have to figure out their offense, which returned to anemic after smashing five home runs on Tuesday.
Gio Urshela hit his first home run since July 4, his 12th of the season off John Means in the third inning. The two-run homer was the only runs the Yankees would get off the Orioles’ lefty.
That overshadowed what was an absolutely brilliant start from Nestor Cortes, who gave the Yankees more than a chance to win.
He struck out a career-high 11, walked two and allowed just one run on three hits over 6.1 innings.
Cortes shut down the Orioles for five innings before giving up a solo home run to Austin Hays in the sixth to start the seventh before Boone pulled him for Green.
The lefty is absolutely one of the players the Yankees can lean on down these final 16 games, but the offense and Green and Torres certainly are still concerns.