Orioles break up no-hit bid, then vault ahead with Coby Mayo’s 3-run blast

Adley Rutschman saved the Orioles from ignominy. Then Coby Mayo turned the game completely on its head.

For the majority of Monday’s game against the New York Yankees, this was a contest to divert one’s eyes from. The healthy fan support for the visiting Yankees made this seem more like a road game. Left-hander Ryan Weathers spun six innings of no-hit baseball, and the Orioles drifted closer to another shameful performance against a southpaw.

But then Rutschman broke up Weathers’ no-hitter to begin the seventh inning by skirting a ground ball through the right side of the infield. After a Pete Alonso groundout advanced Rutschman to second, outfielder Tyler O’Neill walked to bring designated hitter Coby Mayo to the plate to face left-handed reliever Brent Headrick.

The ball left in a flash.

Mayo drove a three-run home run to deep left field, turning a dud of an offensive performance into a comeback 3-2 victory against the Yankees. With right-hander Anthony Nunez picking up the save, Baltimore bucked a nine-game losing streak to New York — and after last week’s “punch in the face,” as manager Craig Albernaz called that four-game sweep in the Bronx, this series began on a better note.

“That’s a heck of a ball team over there. They can pitch, they can hit, play a little defense,” O’Neill said. “Gave it a good swing tonight. Obviously, Coby had the big knock there. That’s what it comes down to sometimes, just one swing. So, it’s on all of us to keep grinding out at-bats and trying to get on base, and, you know, get something together.”

Even with right-handed batters due up in the seventh, the Yankees (26-16) opted to stick with a left-handed pitcher out of the bullpen. Baltimore (19-23) had been so thoroughly dominated by Weathers to that point that New York figured to maintain the same look with Headrick. It also kept the Orioles from pinch-hitting against a righty with their left-handed bats.

So, Mayo stayed in for his at-bat in the seventh. Good thing he did.

He wasn’t in the original lineup — Samuel Basallo was scheduled to be the designated hitter, but he was scratched due to left knee discomfort — and Mayo dealt with the pain of having Yankees shortstop Max Schuemann’s cleat land on the inside of his knee during a collision earlier in the game.

But he pumped his fists as he rounded first, and again as he past third, and once more when he met his teammates beyond home plate and into the dugout. For a player who has struggled more times than not in his young major league career, this was a moment to cherish.

“It feels like I’ve been in that spot a lot over the last three seasons since I’ve been up here and haven’t come through much, as much as I wanted to,” Mayo said. “That was a spot where when I did come through, all that emotion came out and it just felt really good.”

This has been a challenging stretch for Mayo. He committed a game-ending throwing error in Miami last week and his offensive numbers haven’t been consistent. He said the support of family and friends has been paramount. And the love of his dog, Fin.

“The dog doesn’t know I made an error. He doesn’t know I struck out four straight at-bats or whatever it was,” Mayo said. “This game does a lot to the mentals and can have a lot on our minds going to sleep at night, putting our heads on the pillow. As much as guys want to flush it, sometimes it’s tough to when you leave the field. So I think sometimes you need the people in your corner. My dog loves me, so it doesn’t matter what happens. He’s always going to be there for me.”

Still, the overall offensive success was poor. Weathers struck out nine batters through six innings. But finally, in the Orioles’ 10th matchup against a left-handed starter this year, they have their first win.

Baltimore’s pitching staff kept the offense close enough for Mayo’s one swing to be the difference, and it began with right-hander Brandon Young.

In the third, Young left a sinker on the upper outside edge of the zone to Ben Rice, and the Yankees first baseman clubbed the ball deep to left field for a two-run home run. Beyond that, Young performed well. He kept New York in check and he finished with just those two runs against him in 5 1/3 innings.

If anything, Young will have wished he was more economical with his pitches. He needed 29 pitches to complete a scoreless first inning and he walked three batters. Young received some help from left-hander Dietrich Enns, who entered with one out in the fifth to strand Aaron Judge at third — using a nifty barehand catch on a feed from Alonso to record the final out of the inning.

“B.Y., command was not his best and he knows that, but he did a great job of just keeping us in it, and our bullpen was outstanding to kind of give us a chance,” Albernaz said.

Right-hander Rico Garcia pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning against the heart of the Yankees’ order, and Nunez closed it out with some help from O’Neill, whose leaping grab at the right-field wall prevented extra-bases for Ryan McMahon.

This was almost embarrassing. In the end, the Orioles will take a win no matter how it comes.

“We know we’re good,” Young said. “We know we’re one of the best in the league. We’ve just gotta play and act like it.”