Blanked in the Bronx: O's fall as losing streak reaches four

By Steve Melewski

Orioles

July 20, 2016, 5:48pm

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At this point for the Orioles, both the losses and the frustrations are mounting. For the Orioles, it was another night lacking clutch hits and runs as they lost 5-0 to the Yankees in the Bronx.

They have lost three games in this series scoring a total of two runs on 14 hits. They went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position tonight, making them 2-for-17 in this series and 3-for-33 on this road trip that started with back-to-back wins but now has seen four losses in a row.

They fall to 53-40 overall and, if Boston wins at home tonight at San Francisco, the Orioles will drop to second place, a 1/2 game back of Boston. The Orioles have not been in second place since June 4.

Against Yankees starter Michael Pineda, the Orioles' fourth inning started with an Adam Jones single and Mark Trumbo walk. Pedro Alvarez chased a pitch to strike out and then J.J. Hardy singled to load the bases. But Pineda then struck out both Nolan Reimold and Ryan Flaherty.

In the sixth, Trumbo led off with a double and moved to third base on a flyout. But Hardy and Reimold struck out to end that threat. Over those two innings, the Orioles went 1-for-7 with five strikeouts with RISP.

O's starter Yovani Gallardo threw 19 pitches in the first inning and then just 35 over his next four innings. Tonight he went seven innings for the first time since June 27, 2015. He gave up five hits and four runs and falls to 3-2 with an ERA of 5.69.

The Orioles fall to 6-10 since June 30 and they have scored three runs or less eight times in that span, including five straight games. In those five games they've scored two, two, one, one and zero runs. They've scored 17 runs the last eight games and 52 during the 6-10 stretch. The last 12 Orioles were retired in order tonight.

Now 4-5 against the Yankees on the season, the Orioles need a win on Thursday afternoon to avoid their first four-game sweep in New York since Sept. 19-22, 2005. Chris Tillman (13-2, 3.29 ERA) faces left-hander CC Sabathia (5-7, 3.94 ERA) at 1:05 p.m.