Yankees Get Revenge For Aaron Judge, Upset Orioles Announcers, End Up Losing

Stephen Douglas | Jun 20, 2024

Did Victor Gonzalez hit Gunnar Nelson as retribution for the Orioles hitting Aaron Judge the night before? /

The Baltimore Orioles beat the New York Yankees 7-6 in 10 innings on Wednesday night. It was Baltimore's fourth win in six games against the Yankees this season as the Orioles pulled within 1.5 games of New York in the AL East standings. New York was without Aaron Judge who was resting a sore hand after getting hit by a pitch in Tuesday. Retribution for that scary moment may have cost the Yankees the game.

Baltimore had a 4-1 lead with one out in the top of the fifth inning when Victor Gonzalez hit Orioles shortstop and leadoff hitter Gunnar Henderson in the back with a pitch high and inside. Orioles announcers Kevin Brown and Brett Hollander were not happy. Though they couldn't tell for sure whether Gonzalez hit Henderson on purpose, they agreed that it would be the perfect time to get revenge if that's something you were interested in.

Kevin Brown and Brett Hollander react to Gunnar Henderson getting hit by a pitch a day after Aaron Judge was hit. pic.twitter.com/SxyFKXugyk

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 20, 2024

"This is a tough one because it is hard for us to know what's in Victor Gonzalez's mind," said Brown. "He's hit three batters on the year. 22 innings. Here comes Matt Blake... So we cannot sit here. We cannot sit here and say with 100% certainty that he hit Gunnar Henderson, but we can say if the Yankees were thinking about doing something like this, down three in the seventh with the bases empty is the time you might do it. And if they did do it. And if they did throw up and in intentionally to Gunnar Henderson, frankly, shame on them."

Michael Kay also wondered if the HBP was intentional on the Yankees feed.

Victor Gonzalez drills Gunnar Henderson pic.twitter.com/B4NXW5FoOU

— Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) June 20, 2024

Henderson ended up stealing second with two outs and then scored on a Ryan Mountcastle double to make it 5-1. Henderson's run ended up being quite important as the Yankees came back to tie the game 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth. Without that Henderson run the Yankees would have won 5-4.

Of course, the richest part of all this is that the Yankees are upset with the Orioles for hitting Judge, when the Yankees pitching staff has hit more batters than just about anyone. Henderson was the 41st batter to get hit by a Yankees pitcher this season and then in the eighth inning Caleb Ferguson hit Colton Cowser.

Jose Trevino felt the need to kick Colton Cowser's bat back at him after that hit-by-pitch.

An absolute masterclass in how to look weak and spineless in the game of baseball. pic.twitter.com/x3IuW9jocn

— Avi Miller 🟦 (@AviMiIIer) June 20, 2024

Cowser was actually the seventh Orioles batter to get hit by a Yankees pitcher in six games this season. Meanwhile, Baltimore has only hit three New York batters. Umpires would be wise to issue warnings to both benches before the series finale on Thursday.