Warren’s embarrassing sixth-inning error sinks Yankees in 4-2 loss to Orioles

BALTIMORE — Will Warren’s solid start for the Yankees was undone in the sixth by an error he called “embarrassing” and “probably the worst play I’ve ever made in my life,” as New York fell 4-2 to the Orioles at Camden Yards.

The trouble began as Warren retired the first two batters in the sixth, then jammed Jordan Westburg with a pitch to open the inning. The ensuing broken-bat comebacker to the mound deflected off Warren and rolled through his legs after taking a tough bounce, a miscue the pitcher said he treated as a teachable moment rather than an excuse. The ball’s irregular hop and the misread contributed to two unearned runs, setting the stage for Jazz Chisholm Jr. to follow with a two‑run homer that pushed Baltimore ahead.

Warren had been on a different track for most of the night, holding Baltimore to a single run through five innings before the sixth-inning blemish. The only earned run against him came in the second when Ryan Mountcastle slugged a 422-foot homer, a shot that marked the sixth straight game in which Warren has yielded a home run. Warren finished 5 ¹/₃ innings, charged with three runs (one earned) on four hits, with a pair of walks and two strikeouts as his sharpness from his previous start with the Red Sox last Sunday faded late.

Ahead of the game, the Yankees faced a potential milestone for their rotation. Max Fried had just secured his 18th win of the season on Thursday, and Carlos Rodón was slated to take the mound Saturday with a chance at his 17th win. If Rodón wins, he and Fried would become the first pair of Yankees starters to reach 18 victories in the same season since CC Sabathia and Phil Hughes did it in 2010. In the expansion era (since 1961), only six pairs of Yankees teammates have reached 18 wins in the same season, underscoring how uncommon such a duo would be for New York.

On the day’s depth chart, Austin Slater started in left field against Orioles lefty Trevor Rogers, going 1-for-4 with three strikeouts. Slater remains a work in progress at the plate for the Yankees and is 3-for-18 with 12 strikeouts since joining the club.

The loss drops the Yankees to a setback in a season that has seen them mix bright moments with costly mistakes, and it compounds the challenge Warren faces as he tries to lock in a consistent path after a rough outing against Boston just days earlier. New York looks to regroup as Rodón returns to the hill in hopes of keeping pace with the rest of the rotation and keeping pace in a tight division race.

The Orioles, meanwhile, built a two-run cushion that Warren could not fully erase, then withstood late Yankees pressure to seal the win in front of a home crowd at Camden Yards. The result tightened the gap in the standings and kept Baltimore in the hunt for a postseason berth, while the Yankees continued to search for consistency from a pitching staff that has shown flashes of brilliance but also fallen victim to misplays and timely power from opponents.