Aaron Boone ejected as Orioles beat Yankees behind Matt Harvey

BALTIMORE — Maybe Matt Harvey isn’t the past after all — and Deivi Garcia isn’t  yet the present. The former Mets ace, who captured the imagination of New York’s sports scene six years ago, is now reinventing himself with the Orioles. Monday night, the self-acknowledged Yankees fan out-dueled the Bombers’ young prospect and showed that while he may not have the ability to blow hitters away, he can still get Yankees out.

The Orioles’ bats and bullpen backed up Harvey and beat the Yankees 4-2 in the four-game series-opener at Camden Yards.

The Yankees’ rally in the eighth on a bases-loaded single by Gio Urshela was killed when Aaron Judge ran into the final out at third base. Aaron Boone was tossed after arguing with veteran home plate umpire Will Little, who ruled that DJ LeMahieu, the second run, did not cross the plate before Judge was thrown out. Boone seemed to be arguing that the umpires did not give him a chance to have the play reviewed.

The Yankees (9-13) have lost two straight. The Orioles 10-12 won their fourth straight at Camden Yards over the Yankees, who had an 18-game winning streak here snapped last September.

Garcia once again showed his precocious talent and some command issues.

The 21-year-old gave up a giant homer on the second pitch he served up Monday night. Cedric Mullins crushed a 93-mile an hour fastball that sat over the plate for the Orioles’ first Eutaw Street shot of the season. It was the 108th overall and the 49th by an Oriole. A one-out walk in the second inning came back to bite him when Freddy Galvis doubled the run in.

Garcia got through four innings allowing those two runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out four.

With the Yankees starters behind Gerrit Cole still not pulling their full weight, Garcia showed he is fine as a spot starter but may not be the answer if one of the top five falters.

Garcia was 14 years old when Harvey was dubbed the Dark Knight and tabbed an All-Star starter in Citi Field.  Monday night, Garcia dueled with a now 32-year-old Harvey, whose velocity is diminished, but pitching IQ seems sharper.

Harvey, who came back from Tommy John to help pitch the Mets to a World Series by throwing the most innings for a pitcher coming back from that surgery, has not been the same since. After struggling to recover, Harvey tried reinventing himself to be able to compete with lesser velocity.

It was good enough to hold off the Yankees until the fifth inning, when Giancarlo Stanton got a two-out double off him and Aaron Judge, celebrating his 29th birthday, drove him in with another double.

The Orioles are starting to show progress on their overhaul, but if they are not in contention by the end of July and Harvey is still looking useful, he could be a nice trade chip for the Orioles and a team looking for pitching.

It is certainly too early to put the Yankees in that category, but Tuesday night, they need to see some improvement from former two-time Cy Young winner Corey Kluber, who is battling back from missing most of the last two seasons with injuries.

Behind Cole so far this season, the Yankees have Kluber with a 5.40 ERA over four starts, Jameson Taillon with a 6.23 ERA over four starts and Domingo German with a 6.27 ERA in three starts. Jordan Montgomery with his 4.57 ERA over four starts has been their best option outside of their ace.

Garcia came into spring training looking to win one of the five starting spots after a successful debut in 2020, when he was rushed into the big leagues during the abbreviated COVID-19 season because of injuries.

Garcia had a spectacular first start against the Mets and finished the season with a respectable 4.98 ERA.

“I think it’s important to remember too with Deivi that in (2019)  he rocketed through the system to get to Triple-A. Then last year, even though it was so valuable for him, he came up and had some success with us,  but still, in some ways, he missed out on that development of being a young player and a young pitcher and going out and having a full season so to speak,” Boone said.