The Orioles’ ace, who had looked untouchable for much of the year, endured his worst start of the season in his final outing of 2025. He was shelled for six runs and three long balls in just three innings, and the Birds’ bats once again failed in key spots, hitting only .100 with runners in scoring position as they fell 8-4 in the opener of their season-ending set at Yankee Stadium.
For the Yankees, these last three games carry enormous weight. They’ve already locked up a postseason berth, but with the division crown still up for grabs, the difference between first and second is everything. Entering the night, New York was tied with Toronto atop the AL East but technically trailed because of the head-to-head tiebreaker. Winning the division means a bye and home field throughout the AL playoffs. Falling short means the peril of a best-of-three wild card series starting Tuesday.
The Orioles would love to play spoiler, but Rogers’ uncharacteristic struggles made that mission tougher. He began by freezing Aaron Judge with a nasty slider for strike three, but the trouble started right after. Cody Bellinger drew a questionable walk on a pitch clearly in the zone, called ball four by C.B. Bucknor. Moments later, Giancarlo Stanton drilled a two-strike fastball into the right-field seats for a two-run homer. It was only the fifth time all year Rogers had allowed multiple runs in a game — but the bleeding had only begun.
Baltimore briefly fought back in the third. With two outs, Coby Mayo legged out an infield hit and Jackson Holliday worked a walk. Jordan Westburg, just back from the IL and scuffling at the plate, turned on a hanging sweeper and lofted it over the left-field wall for a three-run shot, his first since mid-August, putting the Orioles ahead 3-2.
But Rogers couldn’t protect it. He walked José Caballero on four pitches, then left a sinker over the plate to Judge, who crushed his 52nd homer of the year, a 423-foot blast to dead center. Stanton later added his second homer of the night, pushing the Yankees up 6-3. By the end of the third, Rogers had surrendered more runs and more homers than in any outing all season, watching his ERA spike to 1.81.
The Orioles had their chances late but came up empty. Tyler O’Neill led off the sixth with a homer, cutting the deficit to 6-4, and the Birds even loaded the bases that inning. But Holliday grounded out against Tim Hill to waste the threat, and Adley Rutschman popped up with two aboard the following inning.
Meanwhile, Baltimore’s bullpen offered little relief. Yennier Cano gave up an RBI knock to Austin Wells and another run on a Stanton groundout, thanks in part to a puzzling choice by Westburg not to throw home for an easy out.
In the ninth, David Bednar gave the Orioles a glimmer of hope by putting the first two runners on, but Gunnar Henderson grounded out and both O’Neill and Jeremiah Jackson struck out to end it. The Orioles finished the night 1-for-10 with men in scoring position, an ugly number in a game defined by wasted opportunities.
Two more games remain for this frustrating 2025 Orioles team.