The Yankees Got Their Retaliation Last Night As They Hit Gunnar Henderson To Prove A Point......And Then Lost Because Of It
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.We got a niceeeee little rivalry brewing in the AL East and it's going to make the division race so much more exciting down the stretch. We didn't really get any intense rivalries last year when the O's won the division but then got swept in the ALDS. No real division foes put up a fight outside of the Rays and rivalries with them don't really get the blood flowing like they do for New York or Boston. So when Aaron Judge was hit on accident on a 1-2 pitch on Tuesday night, all of New York assumed the O's were throwing at the Yankees, which makes no sense. Gleyber was hanging out over the plate later that night and barley got touched on his pinky by a pitch but again, everything is on purpose according to Yankees fans even though in the Orioles first series with the Yankees back at the end of April, 5 Birds were hit by the Yankees. Weird. Also, the Yankees threw at Gunnar and Anthony Santander on Tuesday night after Judge and Torres were hit and they missed both of them, so to me that signals "you had your chances and missed, move on", but I guess that isn't how the big, bad Yankees roll.
So all the talk going into last night's game was "GUNNAR HENNDERSON BETTER TAKE ONE OFF THE DOME" and they tried to make it happen. O's were up 4-1 and something named Victor Gonzalez came in and plunked Gunnar right away, first pitch.
You have your pocket of fans who only obviously don't pay attention to the game of baseball and really only are into it for reactions and tweets like this. Get some likes, get some RTs and mute the convo to keep it moving. They truly don't care whether the team wins or loses, but at least he had a funny, smart ass comment!
Gunnar took it like a champ, never even fell to the ground, took his base and went on his way. Incredibly mature move by a 22 year old, it's crazy that he handled this much better than the former MVP and captain of the Yankees who seemed to be egging this whole thing on. Whatever, Gunnar doesn't care, hit him and give the O's the extra base runner. He stole second almost immediately and then this happened….
Mountcastle smoked the ball over Juan Soto's head which scored Gunnar easily. Standing up, could have walked home. Orioles go up by 4. They would have likely been up 3 if the Yankees pitchers didn't try to be tough guys and plunk Gunnar, could have gone into the bottom of the 7th down 3 and it would have been a tie game due to Giancarlo Stanton hitting a 3-run homer. Would have tied the game, instead they were still down 1. Shit! Hate when that happens. Then the Yankees would have likely walked off the Orioles after they scored in the bottom of the 9th, instead of just tying the game and then losing later in extras.
Almost like being fake tough guys and trying to be cool cost them the game, boy do you hate to see that. In a division race where every game matters, they literally helped hand this game to the Orioles. Thanks for the free run and the win! Karma works in mysterious ways and you love to see it. Hope the HBP was worth it!
