O's bats silent as New York takes the series opener

Micheal Pineda was on tonight and that meant the Orioles' offense was off. The New York right-hander retired 22 of the 24 batters he faced as the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-0 on a one-hitter in the opener of a four-game series. With the loss the Orioles are 93-63 with six games to play in the regular season. This ends any longshot hopes at a 100-win season. The Orioles have lost three of four since they went through a stretch with 10 wins in 11 games. With the Detroit Tigers loss tonight the Orioles have clinched home field advantage in the American League Division Series that begins Oct. 2 at Camden Yards. Pineda retired the first 13 batters he faced before he gave up his only hit, a J.J. Hardy single in the fifth inning. He went 7 1/3 innings with one walk and eight strikeouts. He is 4-5 with an ERA of 1.93 Wei-Yin Chen, who took the loss, was bidding to become the first O's starter with 17 wins since Mike Mussina had 18 in 1999. In six innings, Chen gave up six hits and four runs (two earned) with two walks and four strikeouts. He threw 95 pitches and is now 16-5 with an ERA of 3.56. Chen had lost just two of his previous 23 starts since May 9. But the O's couldn't get any offense going for Chen, who before tonight ranked second in the league in run support at 5.96. In nine career starts against New York, Chen is 2-4 with a 5.44 ERA. Derek Jeter drove in three of the four New York runs. It is his first three-RBI game since Sept. 9, 2012 and that was also against the Orioles. The Orioles, who fall to 11-5 against New York and 44-26 versus the AL East, were shut out for the 11th time. They failed to get a runner to second base tonight. In the second game of this four-game series on Tuesday night, Ubaldo Jimenez (5-9, 4.90 ERA) pitches against right-hander Brandon McCarthy (7-4, 2.54 ERA).