Orioles retake first place in AL East as Yankees suffer another blown save

The Baltimore Orioles are back in first place in the AL East. They took care of business against the historically-bad White Sox with a comfortable, 9-0, victory that was never really in doubt Tuesday. The O’s scored three runs in the first, four in the second and that was that.

The New York Yankees, of course, had a 0.5-game lead heading into the night and trailed 1-0 to the Rangers heading into the late innings. After scoring two runs in each the seventh and eighth innings, though, it looked like the Yankees would be able to hold their lead in the division for at least one more night.

Instead, the Rangers grabbed two runs in the eighth and that was enough to make things very interesting in the ninth against embattled Yankees closer Clay Holmes.

Holmes recorded an out to start the inning, but then allowed a single before two walks. And then rookie slugger Wyatt Langford stepped to the plate and cleared the bases:

Holmes has now blown 11 of his 40 save chances. He leads the majors by three blown saves. Not only that, but the Yankees have lost eight games when leading in the ninth inning or later this season and only the last-place Rockies have more (via Katie Sharp).

The Yankees don’t exactly have great options at the end of the game right now. Jake Cousins and Tim Hill both have thumbprints all over the Rangers’ two-run eighth. Tommy Kahnle was awful last time out before a sub-par outing Tuesday. Mark Leiter Jr. is carrying a 6+ ERA since the Yankees’ acquired him. Luke Weaver coughed up two runs in an inning Monday.

Regardless, the Orioles are now back on top.

For now, the Orioles have a slightly more favorable remaining schedule by opponents’ winning percentage, but after Wednesday — when the Orioles play the hapless White Sox again — it’ll flip to the Yankees having a slightly more-favorable schedule.

Most importantly, there is a three-game series between the two teams in the Bronx Sept. 24-26. Perhaps the division race will be this close, or hopefully even tied, heading into that bout.