Homers hurt Orioles again in 15-3 loss (with quotes)

David Hess didn't flirt with a no-hitter today. It was gone by the second inning, along with a scoreless tie and any hope that the Yankees might ease up on the power surge. Might stop trying to take out a few of the seats or the batter's eye.

Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier and Gary Sánchez homered in the first three innings to create a four-run lead while the Orioles continued to wait for their first baserunner. And then their first hit.

It was Domingo Germán's turn to chase history.

It was the Orioles' turn to experience a series loss and sweep.

Rio Ruiz walked with one out in the fifth to remove perfection from the list of possible indignities, and Hanser Alberto singled with one out in the sixth. The Orioles would only feel the sting of three home runs by Sánchez, the sight of Alberto pitching and a 15-3 loss before an announced crowd of 33,102 at Camden Yards that ran their streak to four and dropped them below .500.

That's a sharp sting. Didn't draw blood, but had to hurt.

Sánchez hit two-run shots off Mike Wright in the seventh inning and Dan Straily in the eighth for the 11th multi-homer game of his career and first consisting of three on the same day. The six RBIs are a career high.

Alberto made his pitching debut after Frazier's two-run shot off Straily in the ninth. He hit a batter with his second pitch, then Austin Romine delivered the Yankees' seventh home run of the day.

Two walks and a fielder's choice brought Sánchez to the plate again, but he flied to left. Another fly ball, to the center field track, ended the inning.

Today marked the 10th time that the Orioles have used a position player on the mound.

Hess held the Blue Jays hitless for 6 1/3 innings Monday in Toronto and made it through the first inning today with only a walk, plate umpire Dana DeMuth refusing to give him the low strike to Luke Voit. But Torres led off the second by launching a 95 mph fastball to center for his third home run of the series, and Frazier parked a slider beyond the glove of a leaping Cedric Mullins with two outs.

Sánchez lined a 94 mph fastball to left in the third inning for a two-run homer, giving the Yankees 10 in the series to account for all 18 of their runs. They'd finish with 14.

The seven homers in the game are the most hit by the Yankees since they collected eight on July 31, 2007 against the White Sox.

A double in the fourth and walk in the fifth didn't hurt Hess, who ran his pitch count to 88. Wright warmed twice and entered the game in the sixth.

The Orioles didn't really come close to producing a hit off Germán until Alberto lined his single into right-center field. Dwight Smith Jr. lined softly to second baseman D.J. LeMahieu in the fourth. Third baseman Gio Urshela made a backhanded stop near the line. Nothing worthy of a web gem.

Jonathan Villar reached on an infield single leading off the bottom of the seventh for the Orioles' second hit of the day. Trey Mancini walked and Germán was out of the game.

Two runs scored on a passed ball and wild pitch, and Alberto produced an RBI single off former Orioles minor leaguer Stephen Tarpley to trim the lead to 9-3. But Sánchez struck again.

Chris Davis flied out twice, struck out twice and is hitless in 51 consecutive plate appearances and 44 at-bats. Tony Bernazard has the most plate appearances without a hit by a non-pitcher at 57, and Eugenio Vélez has the most at-bats at 46, according to STATS.

Frazier singled with two outs in the sixth to score Torres, a ground ball up the middle confirming that the Yankees also can produce runs without homering. But Sánchez didn't stray from the power narrative with his shots to left field on a 1-2 pitch from Wright and an 0-2 pitch from Straily.

Wright has been scored upon in his last three outings. He was charged with three runs Thursday and didn't record an out, and four more today in 1 2/3 innings to raise his ERA to 18.69.

Straily made his Orioles debut by replacing Wright with two outs in the seventh and let an inherited runner score on LeMahieu's double. Straily gave up hits to the first three batters he faced, including Urshela's RBI single for a 9-0 lead.

It didn't get any better for Straily or the Orioles.

Manager Brandon Hyde on having to use position player to pitch: "It stinks. Alberto picked us up big-time, though. Unfortunately, those things happen throughout the season. You hope it's a rare occurrence. It happened to us today, but Hanser picked us up big-time."

Hyde on Yankees and what went wrong: "How many guys are they missing, too? Bottom line is you have to execute. I felt like we were ahead in the count a lot of the series, Two strikes, guys battling, but you just can't miss in the middle on the other side of the plate. Good players, they're going to hurt you. We just did it way too often this series.

"I thought we played good the first two games here. We had chances to win. We had the lead both games and played really well. We just kind of gave it up in the end in both games. Today was not our day. They swung the bat great, so I feel really good about five of the six games we played against them.

"Loved the way we compete, love the way we play defense. We've just got to execute a little better in big spots. When you don't, they don't just drive in a run on a single up the middle, they go in the seats. That's what good teams do."

Hyde on whether Orioles need fresh bullpen arm: "I definitely was thinking that during the game, but then Hanser picked us up, so it's something we're going to discuss after this. In a game like that you start to think about tomorrow, start thinking about (John) Means' start two days from now. There's a lot of guys I didn't want to pitch. Hanser picked us up big-time by getting the last three outs."

Hyde on how decided on Alberto to pitch: "Names in the hat? He didn't volunteer. I just asked him to do it. He was typical Hanser, super pro. He said he'd do it, no problem.

"I think I surprised him. I said it, I think it was before the eighth. I brought it up to him and he said no problem, and then when I went out there he was a little taken (aback). He didn't know if I was kidding or not."

Hyde on overall impressions of Alberto: "He's playing so well, offensively, defensively, the energy the guy has. I'm sure you guys have seen him in the clubhouse. The energy he has is infectious. He's an unbelievable teammate. He grinds out at-bats. He puts the ball in play, makes the plays defensively.

"We're turning a lot of double plays. He's been a part of a lot of them. I'm so impressed with how he's playing. It's awesome to have him on the club."

Hyde on Davis at-bats: "He flew out a couple times. I haven't talked to him about it since, but he's facing a tough lefty there, Tarpley at the end. That one didn't go as well. But I hope that he feels like he's making progress. He took a couple decent passes on those fly balls. Just didn't happen."

Hyde on Hess: "I thought David had his good stuff again, I just felt like he missed and he didn't execute. He was trying to go up to Sánchez and he didn't go up enough. I think Frazier was sitting slider on him. He pitched OK, he just didn't put away guys like he did in Toronto. He gave us five innings and kept us in it for a while. Just wasn't quite as sharp as he was in Toronto."

Hess on not executing pitches: "I think that was really the biggest thing on the day. I just left a couple fastballs up and a hanging slider. That's a team right now that's hitting well, so they didn't miss."

Hess on how it snowballed: "I think, for me personally, I think I just need to set the tone a little bit better. I think going out there and giving up three home runs in the first few innings like that, that's tough to come back as a team, so I think a lot of that's on my shoulders."

Hess on his stuff: "I felt all right. Didn't feel as crisp as I did the other day when I was out there, but that's kind of baseball. Whether you feel good, bad or anything in between, you really have to go out there and find a way to get the results that put your team in a position to where they can have a chance to win."

Hess on team having to treat it like just one loss: "Yeah, you really do. At the end of the day we could win by that many, we could lose by that many, but we're going to come back tomorrow, we're going to be ready to play. I know this team and I know this group, and it's a lot of guys that are good at turning the page, so that's what we're going to focus on. We know we have a new series tomorrow, so when the A's roll into town we'll be ready to go."

Alberto on whether he was surprised to pitch: "No, I wasn't surprised, because I knew the inning before. They asked me if I could do it just in case and I said, 'Yeah, right now.' To give some rest to the bullpen. Go out there and try to have a quick inning."

Alberto on whether he really was throwing curveballs: "No, no. Just fastballs. Seventy-four miles per hour. I didn't want to throw too hard because I know I'm not a pitcher and don't want to get hurt. Just try to get out of the inning.

"It was all right. Just different. But all right."

Alberto on his hitting: "Every day I come here to the stadium and prepare myself and work on my swing. Try to have a good batting practice and just set up everything for the game."