The temperature for the series between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles rose significantly in the ninth inning of the series opener.

Following a dugout-clearing confrontation on Friday, tensions are bound to be heightened for the second game of the set on Saturday in Baltimore.

When Yankees reliever Clay Holmes plunked Heston Kjerstad in the helmet with a one-out pitch, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde charged toward the New York dugout. That had players from both teams gathering for pushing and shoving.

“First of all, I hope Heston is all right,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Nobody ever wants to see that. It was scary in the moment.”

Hyde said he didn’t like the response directed toward him from the New York dugout.

“I just reacted the way I did,” Hyde said.

Kjerstad left the game and was being evaluated, according to Hyde.

“I don’t think Clay was trying to hit Heston in the head right there,” Orioles outfielder Austin Hays said. “… The emotions are always higher when you see a guy get hit up top.”

Boone added: “An emotional moment. Two teams playing for a lot. Glad it didn’t escalate too much.”

After the scrum, Holmes retired the next two batters to seal the Yankees’ 4-1 win, pulling second-place New York within one game of first-place Baltimore in the American League East.

The Orioles are 5-3 against the Yankees this year.

It is difficult to predict whether there will be fallout from the incident over the next two games.

“I hope not. I don’t think so,” Boone said. “Playing for too much to get caught up with that. We got to play well. We got to win ballgames. Same for them.”

The Orioles must win Saturday or they’ll match their longest losing streak of the season, five games. Baltimore has scored just one run across its last 33 innings.

“We’ve run into a little bit of a skid right now where we’re going through some tough times offensively,” Hyde said. “Hopefully, we can take some better at-bats (Saturday).”

New York is far from cruising, winning just six times in its past 21 games.

The Yankees will start Luis Gil (9-5, 3.27 ERA) on Saturday, with the right-hander trying to snap a personal four-game skid.

Gil’s slide began June 20 against Baltimore, which rattled him for seven runs and eight hits in 1 1/3 innings as the Orioles won 17-5 in New York. Back on May 1, he blanked the Orioles on two hits for 6 1/3 innings as the Yankees won 2-0 in Baltimore.

In three career outings against Baltimore, all starts, Gil is 2-1 with a 4.61 ERA.

Right-hander Grayson Rodriguez (11-3, 3.52) will try to get the Orioles back on track, and he has thrived in two career starts against the Yankees. In Rodriguez’s only outing against New York this year, he threw 5 2/3 shutout innings. He gave up five hits and walked three batters during a 2-0 win on April 29.

On July 28, 2023, he turned in 6 1/3 shutout innings of three-hit ball against the visiting Yankees in a no-decision, though Baltimore won 1-0.

Rodriguez has won his past three starts, most recently going six innings on Sunday and limiting the Oakland A’s to three runs on six hits. Baltimore hasn’t won since that game.

Keeping Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in check will be one of his tasks. Judge homered for the first time in nine games on Friday — giving him a majors-leading 33 long balls this year — and walked four times.

–Field Level Media