NEW YORK — The New York Yankees could have sprayed each other with champagne for the second time in a week; instead, it was the Baltimore Orioles who sprayed champagne in their locker room Tuesday night.

The Yankees had a chance to win the American League East title, but lost to the Orioles 5-3. With the win, Baltimore secured one of three wild-card spots. The Yankees’ magic number to win the division remains one, meaning they would have to finish the season 0-5 and the Orioles 5-0 to not win the AL East.

But on Tuesday, the Yankees had a chance to make the remaining five games meaningless. They took a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning, but Gleyber Torres hit an RBI ground-rule double to cut the Orioles’ lead to 4-2.

Juan Soto then hit an RBI single to right field, and Orioles right fielder Anthony Santander threw the ball home, missing the cutoff man. Soto ran to second base, and Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman threw to second base. This prompted Torres to sprint to home base. Baltimore shortstop Gunnar Henderson stepped in front of second base, threw home, and caught Torres on a rundown between third and home base. Torres was put out after a 9-2-6-2-5-2-6 putout.

“I think he thought Soto was going to go, but you have to commit to both – you’re going to sell out once Rutschman gets even,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He got caught in the middle.”

Juan Soto makes it and makes it a 1-run game. pic.twitter.com/ZuWRqSd4WN

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) 25 September 2024

The video replay showed Torres walking back to third base with Rutschman running forward. Only when the catcher released the ball did Torres run and try to score the tying point. Torres, who entered Tuesday night’s game with a sprint speed rating in the 31st percentile, didn’t have much of a chance to score because of his hesitation and quickness.

The out also left Aaron Judge in the waiting circle with runners on second and third base. The Orioles probably would have intentionally walked Judge to load the bases for Austin Wells, who is mired in an 8-for-61 run slump, but it was a missed opportunity for the Yankees to continue their comeback.

“Maybe it was just a little misunderstanding, but he was rushing the whole time,” Judge said. “I think he was trying to score, saw the stop sign and was just in no man’s land. Ultimately, this kind of thing shouldn’t happen. We can’t keep shooting ourselves in the foot by making mistakes like this on the basepaths. But it happened, and we have to move on.”

“I feel like I have to be a little more aggressive if I decide to steal that run,” Torres said.

Torres’ baserunning error resulted in six outs at home plate for the Yankees second baseman this season, tying him with Tampa Bay Rays first baseman Yandy Díaz for the most outs in the MLB.

“Some of them are two outs on bang-bang plays on an aggressive send,” Boone said, defending Torres’ mistakes. “It’s important to know the context. He actually makes some mistakes on the bases. He’s improved a lot from last year and the year before that, when he got himself in trouble a lot. I think in his case, he’s toned down his aggressiveness a little bit. (This) is also a case of protecting a runner. Again, it has to be a bluff or you have to go all out and go for it.”

“I was just trying to protect Soto. In that situation, you just have to protect him. I was a little late getting to home plate, I think I was a little late, and after that they ejected me.”

– Gleyber Torres on his baserunning error in the 7th inning pic.twitter.com/bCxhte6y2V

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) 25 September 2024

Torres was benched earlier in the season after being ejected at home plate for failing to get a potential double off a ball he hit into the left outfield wall. Since joining the major leagues, he has been rated as a negative base runner in FanGraphs’ Base-Running Runs Above Average in every season except 2021. Last season, Torres ranked fifth in most outs on base. This year, he ranks 18th.

Torres’ baserunning failure overshadowed his 3-for-4 night at the plate and his continued excellence as the team’s first hitter. His .388 batting average as the game’s first hitter this season is the highest of any player with at least 50 batting appearances, as first noted by Katie Sharp of Baseball Reference.

In the postseason, baserunning mistakes can affect games on a micro level. According to FanGraphs, the Yankees are by far the worst baserunning team this year, but they’re also fourth in slugging and second in on-base percentage, two much more meaningful stats that impact wins in October on a macro level. There’s no doubt, though, that the Yankees are sloppy on the basepaths, even after signing Jazz Chisholm Jr. at the trade deadline, calling up Jasson Domínguez, and getting Jon Berti healthy. They also rank last in team sprint speed.

“That was definitely a problem for us last year,” Boone said. “We got a lot of those things under control. I think in the second half of the season we were able to score some runs with steals and double steals, and our athleticism improved in the second half. There were times this year where we had a lot of guys running from station to station and we weren’t as aggressive. We cut down on some of those outs.”

Torres’ fumble wasn’t the only reason the Yankees didn’t win the AL East on Tuesday. Alex Verdugo, who started in left field ahead of Domínguez, hit a game-winning double play in the fifth inning with no outs and runners on first and second base. Boone kept relief pitcher Tim Mayza in the game too long, and he allowed a solo home run by Ramón Urías.

Now the Yankees will try again to secure the division title on Wednesday night against the Orioles.

“We wanted to come and get it done tonight,” Boone said. “They held us back and we just couldn’t catch up enough.”

(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)