One run short again: O's fall at Yankee Stadium as losing streak reaches four

For the Orioles, it was another frustrating night in New York and another one-run loss. Their rally from five runs down came up short as the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 in front of 38,731 to take the first two games of a four-game series.

The O's losing streak has reached four in a row and they have been outscored 17-10 during the streak.

The Orioles lost by one run for the third time in the last four games. They fall to 12-15 for the season, matching a season low by falling three games under .500 for the second time. They are 3-6 in one-run games.

Trailing by a 5-0 score after three innings, the Orioles battled back to pull within one run by scoring two each in the fifth and sixth.

New York starter Adam Warren, even with a five-run lead, walked the first two batters to start the fifth, both of whom later scored on a Manny Machado RBI single and a Delmon Young fielder's choice grounder. But Chris Davis, representing the tying run with two men on, struck out to end that threat.

In the sixth, the O's produced a two-out rally. J.J. Hardy doubled to left off reliever Justin Wilson, who then hit Ryan Flaherty. Machado walked to load the bases and Jimmy Paredes came through with a clutch two-run single to center. Paredes is now 8-for-15 with a homer and nine RBIs when batting with runners in scoring position.

New York scored three in the first off Miguel Gonzalez, who entered with a 3-1 record and 2.59 ERA. An Alex Rodriguez sac fly made it 1-0 and then Brian McCann hit a 3-0 fastball out for a 3-0 lead. In the third, Carlos Beltran's two-out, two-run double with the bases loaded made it 5-0. But McCann was cut down 9-4-2 at the plate when Caleb Joseph made an excellent catch and tag at the plate for the final out of the inning.

Gonzalez went just four innings, allowing five hits and five runs, throwing 79 pitches. It was his shortest start since going 3 1/3 innings against Detroit on April 4, 2014.

After a run of seven straight quality starts, O's starters have now pitched to an ERA of 7.90 without a quality start the past three games. T.J. McFarland, just recalled from Triple-A today, pitched three scoreless innings in relief of Gonzalez to keep the Orioles in the game.

But for the second day in a row, the Yankees' 1-2 punch at the end of the game shut down O's batters late in the game. Dellin Betances pitched 1 1/3 scoreless and Andrew Miller pitched a 1-2-3 ninth and is 13-for-13 in save chances. Betances and Miller have combined to pitch 33 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run for the season.

The Orioles are now 2-3 against the Yankees and 11-13 versus the AL East. If New York wins one of the next two days it will win a series against the Orioles for the first time since Sept. 9-12, 2013. Since then the O's have won six and tied one series.

On Saturday afternoon at 1:05 p.m., Wei-Yin Chen (0-1, 2.83 ERA) pitches against Chase Whitley (1-0, 0.75) in another attempt to break the losing streak.