Photo credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

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NEW YORK-What happened? By winning two of three games against the New York Yankees, the Orioles scored and secured a playoff spot on Tuesday night, but fell short of another as the Yankees won the American League East on Thursday night.

Manager Brandon Hyde is preparing the Orioles for the wild-card series that begins next Tuesday, and he limited his top starter, Corbin Burnes, to five innings and 69 pitches.

Burnes allowed one run in five innings, but the Orioles' bullpen gave up nine runs – six in a disastrous sixth inning – in a 10-1 loss.

Hyde wanted to win, but looked ahead and limited Burnes' number of pitches.

“Very, very tough, but this was something that was collaborative,” Hyde said of the decision. “Once we get the win… and he'll take a regular rest before the first game of the wild card, and he hasn't taken a regular rest in a while. And given the number of innings he’s pitched and the number of starts he’s made, we cut him back a little bit tonight.”

The Orioles had just two hits in 6 2/3 innings against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole. He and Burnes put on a show for five impressive innings in an old-fashioned pitchers' duel.

Kansas City and Detroit both won on Thursday, and the Orioles need a win in the three-game series in Minnesota or a Tigers loss in their series against the Chicago White Sox, who have already tied today's record with 120 losses this weekend , to host the wild card series that begins Tuesday.

How did Burnes feel about the decision? Burnes had allowed just five hits in 14 scoreless innings in his last two starts against Detroit. Giancarlo Stanton hit a home run in the second inning.

In five innings, Burnes allowed one run on two hits, struck out nine and walked one.

“You’re out there throwing the ball well and you kind of have to look at the bigger picture,” Burnes said. “You know we have a lot of important games here next week. So we talked about it and laid out the plan to get to five (innings) and 75 (pitches) in that area, get work done and get ready for the postseason.

“When you throw the ball that well, everything feels pretty good, you feel like you can throw every inning and just keep going. Kind of a good final tune-up and ready for the postseason.”

Burnes finished the regular season with a 15-9 record and a 2.92 ERA.

“I'm really proud to be able to come here and, obviously being a whole new group, settle in pretty quickly and have a good year,” he said. “Overall the consistency was very good. That's kind of my goal: to make sure I'm available every five days, to go out there and be as consistent as possible, and other than two pretty bad games there in August, it's been a really good season. So I’m definitely proud of it and I want to continue to build on it here in the postseason.”

Burnes had a difficult August with a 7.36 ERA, but rebounded significantly.

“After making those few changes at the beginning of the month, everything was the way we wanted it,” he said. “Back to really good control of the cutter and breaking pitches. I think the last three games have shown where we want to be and where we should go in the postseason, so we’re in a good position.”

What if the Orioles played the Yankees in the Division Series? The Orioles must win the Wild Card Series to face the Yankees, who they last saw in the 2012 postseason when they lost a difficult five-game Division Series.

“Yeah, we’ll play them again,” Burnes said. “I think that’s the only way we can move forward, by going through them. So we played better baseball here this week.

“We’re going to play another tough team in Minnesota and try to get into the postseason. So it's a good final vote for us, but it's still ahead of us. “We just have to go out there and play baseball. We played great against these guys in the regular season, so there’s no reason we can’t do it in the postseason.”

Hyde knows how formidable the Yankees are, and he used 15 relievers in this series.

“Anytime you win the first two, it's disappointing not to win the third, and we've emptied our bullpen the last two nights, a lot of people are excited, and we still have important games left,” Hyde said . “Luckily I was able to stay away from a couple bullpen guys. That’s the only positive, but there’s not a lot of positives tonight.”

An Orioles-Yankees series would be compelling, but first the Orioles have to win the wild card.

“It’s a good team over there,” he said. “They played better than us in the second half. We're excited to be in the playoffs. We have to improve our position. We still have a lot of work to do. But give them credit for playing well.”

What does it mean? The Orioles need one more win or a loss from the Tigers next week to secure home-field advantage. Until they do that, they cannot fully prepare for the postseason.

What is the word? “Tonight he was lights out, lights out. Stanton, that's it. He feels good going into the playoffs and that was the most important thing.” –Hyde on Burnes' performance.

What is the status of the day? 8-5. The Orioles defeated the Yankees in eight of 13 meetings. It was their second straight series win against New York. In 2023, they were 7-6.

What's next? The Orioles open their final series of the regular season at Minnesota on Friday night. Cade Povich (2-9, 5.59) meets Pablo López (15-9, 4.11). Game time is 8:10 p.m