NEW YORK – The exit interview for Orioles left-hander Trevor Rogers won’t mimic what he heard last fall. He won’t need a new plan to get stronger physically and mentally. The conversation will be much simpler.
“I think just rub him on the back,” interim manager Tony Mansolino said earlier today, “and tell him, ‘Please do it again next year.’”
Left unspoken will be the need to avoid what happened tonight, a beating totally out of character from the 2025 version of Rogers.
The Yankees hit three home runs off Rogers in three innings, matching his entire season total, in an 8-4 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 44,596. Giancarlo Stanton had a pair of two-run shots after two at-bats and Aaron Judge clubbed his 52nd.
The three homers tied Rogers’ career high. The last time it happened was May 20, 2022 against the Braves.
Rogers hadn’t allowed more than two runs in 16 of his 17 starts before tonight. The Rays scored three on June 18 in Tampa in his second appearance.
Mansolino went to his bullpen after Rogers threw 52 pitches in three innings and finished the season with a 1.81 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and .180 opponents’ average.
Jordan Westburg lined a two-strike sweeper into the first row of left field seats in the third inning for a three-run homer that gave Rogers the lead, but the Yankees responded in the bottom half with two-run homers from Judge and Stanton.
Rogers walked Cody Bellinger with two outs in the first and got ahead of Stanton 0-2 before a four-seam fastball left the bat at 108.8 mph and landed in the right field seats. Stanton paused at the plate to admire it. Rogers spun toward third base and refused to watch.
Yankees rookie Will Warren made a similar 0-2 mistake to Westburg after Coby Mayo reached on an infield hit with two outs and Jackson Holliday walked. Westburg’s 16th home run tied him with Gunnar Henderson and Colton Cowser for second-most on the club behind Jackson Holliday’s 17.
Henderson singled and stole his 30th base, becoming the youngest Oriole to reach that mark. Don Baylor was a day older in 1973.
José Caballero drew a four-pitch walk leading off the bottom of the third, with only three of the pitches missing the strike zone. Umpire CB Bucknor was working the plate and his usual magic. Judge’s homer with one out sailed 423 feet at 109.7 mph. Cody Bellinger walked and Stanton destroyed a first-pitch changeup, driving it 451 feet to center field at 112.2 mph.
This time, Rogers had to peak, with hands on hips.
Warren was pulled after Tyler O’Neill led off the sixth inning with his first home run since Aug. 4, the gap largely due to injury. The Yankees’ lead was down to 6-4, but they manufactured a run in the bottom half on three singles against Yennier Cano, the last by Austin Wells. They loaded the bases twice in the seventh and settled for one run.
Dylan Beavers fouled a ball off his leg in the fourth inning and exited with right shin discomfort. He went from walk-off homer to moving with a limp.
This wasn’t going to be the Orioles’ night, and it lowered their record 75-85.
The last starts of 2025 belong to Tomoyuki Sugano and Kyle Bradish. Rogers’ work is done, and he operated at a high level.
Tonight was a minor regression in a season filled with major accomplishments.
“Just kind of everything he went through, and to go through the offseason with the plan that he did, a lot of it his own doing and a lot of it the doing of our strength staff, our medical staff and our pitching group here in Baltimore, and to get this out of him in 2025 was pretty wild,” Mansolino said.
“So I think it’s a rinse and repeat, and hopefully he does the same next year.”