Corbin Burnes: tenure with the Orioles came to an end today following his trade for about $100.million.
BALTIMORE — Corbin Burnes didn’t think it was a homer at first. It barely was.
With two outs in the fifth inning on Wednesday night, the Orioles’ ace faced Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera and gave up a hard-hit ball (an exit velocity of 103.3 mph, per Statcast) that had a low launch angle (21 degrees) before sailing down the right-field line.
The ball cleared the high out-of-town scoreboard and hit the foul pole — and it got stuck in its webbing. A little bit of a lower launch angle, and it wouldn’t have gone out. It also wouldn’t have been a home run if it had traveled a few more feet to the right.
“I joked if the pole was maybe 325 [feet] vs. 318, it probably would have been a foul ball,” Burnes said. “But it’s the park we play in.”
Cabrera’s two-run homer was the only offense in Baltimore’s 2-0 loss to New York, a game that was well-pitched on both sides. It was the lone blemish for Burnes — who struck out six over six quality innings — while the potent O’s lineup got shut out for the first time this season.
According to Statcast, Cabrera’s home run would have gone out in only five MLB ballparks. If the contest had been played in one of the 25 others, there may have been a different result.
Instead, the Orioles (19-11) lost for the first time in six games against American League East opponents this year, and they’re again tied with the Yankees (20-12) atop the division.
“Just a really well-pitched game — an unbelievably pitched game — from both sides,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I thought we got pitched extremely tough, honestly.”
