Kuroda tops Hammel as Yankees take series opener

The Orioles were done in pretty much by one swing tonight and this time there was no late-inning comeback. Eric Chavez hit a two-run homer to right in the last of the second tonight and Yankees pitching made it stand up in a 2-1 win over the Orioles in the start of a three-game series. The Orioles fall to 14-9 overall, 6-5 on the road and 0-4 against the Yankees. They have lost the last three games against New York by four total runs. The Orioles are 14-5 against every team but the Yankees this year. The Orioles took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second against Hiroki Kuroda when Adam Jones drew a leadoff walk and later scored on a Chris Davis sac fly. Chavez's third homer made Jason Hammel a tough-luck losing pitcher. He gave up just the two runs and five hits over six innings to fall to 3-1. His ERA actually went up from 1.73 to 1.97. Hammel has four quality starts in five outings on the year. Kuroda is now 2-3 with an ERA of 3.69 after giving up just four hits and one run over seven innings. The Orioles hit several balls hard against the right-hander, especially in the early innings, but could get just the one run. The Orioles had won their last 57 games when allowing two runs or less and that streak ended tonight. This is the first time the O's lost a game this season when getting a quality start as they fall to 11-1 in those games. The Orioles went just 5-13 against the Yankees last season and have lost 26 of their past 32 games in New York.