Tillman surrenders three home runs in 8-3 loss (with quotes)

Chris Tillman went four starts and faced 95 batters this season without allowing a home run. Some streaks end. Other are obliterated.

Yankees leadoff hitter Brett Gardner homered tonight on the third pitch thrown by Tillman, a 90 mph fastball. Matt Holiday, the third batter in the order, drove Tillman's 86 mph slider into the left field seats.

And so it went.

Holliday got Tillman again leading off the third inning, Gardner homered off reliever Logan Verrett leading off the fourth and the Yankees cruised to an 8-3 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 16,126 at chilly and damp Camden Yards.

The Orioles (26-24) have lost eight of their last nine games and 14 of 18. They've dropped five of their last six at home.

Trey Mancini's infield hit with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth inning assured that the Orioles would avoid their fourth shutout and third in the last seven games. Joey Rickard struck out and the Yankees held an 8-1 lead.

Rickard had an RBI single with two outs in the eighth inning after Mark Trumbo reached on reliever Bryan Mitchell's throwing error and Mancini walked. J.J. Hardy followed with a run-scoring single.

Mancini also singled in the second and fifth innings. Someone who wasn't' wearing gray pants needed to have a big night.

It all starts with starting pitching. Dylan Bundy was really good yesterday, enabling the Orioles to end a seven-game skid. Tillman lasted only 2 2/3 innings and allowed five runs and seven hits. He was gone after 59 pitches.

Holliday has 22 career multi-homer games. Gardner garnered his fifth, including three this season. Two have come against the Orioles.

Tillman has one quality start among his five outings since coming off the disabled list. In his last two appearances, he's allowed nine runs and 16 hits over 7 2/3 innings and his ERA is up to 5.87 in 23 innings.

The Yankees scored in the second inning without rattling the seats. Didi Gregorius led off with a double and Aaron Hicks followed with an RBI single.

Yankees leadoff hitters reached base, or circled them, in each of the first six innings.

It was just a bad night overall for the Orioles. Manny Machado had his second career four-strikeout game, the other coming on July 31, 2014 when he went 0-for-6 against the Angels. Chris Davis was 3-for-40 with 22 strikeouts in his last 10 games before lining a single into right field in the second inning, but he fanned in his next three at-bats.

Machado is 0-for-13 with eight strikeouts in his last three games.

Verrett allowed three runs and five hits in three innings. Donnie Hart, in his first appearance since the Orioles recalled him in Houston, retired all four batters he faced.

All three runs off Verrett came in the fourth. Aaron Judge had a two-run double.

How harshly will the Orioles be judged if they fall into fourth place? The Rays were a half-game behind them and they're leading the Rangers 5-2 in the seventh inning.

Here's a sampling from manager Buck Showalter:

On three home runs off Tillman: "Chris wasn't very crisp and just didn't pitch well. Couple in the fact that it's a good-hitting club, wasn't very good. Goes without saying. Did pitch the last five innings pretty well, but we had to use a lot of people to do it. Severino's a good pitcher. He's got good stuff. We knew that."

On having to use bullpen a lot: "That's been the case, not just for us, but that's why we've had to make a lot of moves that we have, especially with Zach (Britton) being out. I've said many times that everybody's got some issues with a club, but starting pitching, when you have some short outings, a couple of them even four and five innings, it puts a lot of pressure on some other areas and makes you do other things you'd rather not do to keep some continuity.

"I've said many times that a lot of things that go on with a club over a season are dictated by how consistent your starting pitching can be. We've said that all along. Every spring all clubs say that."

On how much he also evaluates Tillman on arm strength: "Both, both. We do that all the time. That's just human nature because we're in the business of not stating the obvious of trying to figure out why. I'm not big on talking about identifying problems. I think they're pretty obvious to everybody, including here and fans. We see the same things with some of our guys, so we've got to figure out why."

On Tillman not being able to recover after early fastball command issues: "Today he just never seemed to take it to another level and find his way. A lot of times, I can see in the first inning or two he's a pitch away and then he gets in step, like a lot of pitchers. Not just him. Today it was pretty obvious to me that he wasn't going to be able to find that step. He was really struggling to find tempo and a consistent release point. You look back through where he was trying to throw the ball. There weren't many pitches executed on his part. He knows that."

On Machado's slump: "We talk about it every day. Everybody's working as hard as they can. He's the same person we think is one of the best players in the game. I think it's just a reminder to all of us how hard this is to do and how everybody goes through those periods. I can name a lot of people. But it doesn't make it any more palatable or easier to take for Manny. Believe me, he's got a lot of pride, he and Chris (Davis). But everybody's going to have that where we're going to be in here talking about it, unfortunately.

"What do you do? I know what he's not doing: Giving in. I talk to him every day. So do a lot of other people. He knows. It's frustrating for him. If you think it's frustrating for somebody else, triple it because it's really ... Sometimes you can want it too much. It's a long process. It just doesn't happen with one swing. And they pitch real well. These are the best pitchers in the world. They're going to step on your neck when they think they've got you down because they know that you have and will do some damage again."

On why Machado can't sustain a good stretch like the one he had in Houston: "We've got to figure that out. He does, we do. It's not just him. I know it's a topic because of the level he's spoiled us with and it should be. It's not that easy just to say, OK, there's a single to right and now everything's fine. There's a bloop hit and everything's fine. It's not a short process. This is not a quick-fix business. It's a quick-fix somewhere else in the batting order or he's hitting left-handed. All of those things are very short-term, but it's a long-term thing that you've got to figure your way through and everybody faces it, whether you're 24 or 34. You go through it."

On whether he knows that Tillman is healthy: "I think more than you all because I'm privy to some things that he's not going to talk to the world about. There's not a guy in there that doesn't have something that's a physical challenge. Whether it's keeping him from pitching as well as he can, some guys have good seasons and have those types of things. We're aware of some of the challenges that everybody in there that has X-number of innings in an arm and an elbow and a shoulder. Chris has pitched some pretty good games for us this year and we know in the past.

"Yeah, I feel pretty good about what he's telling us, but it's like a Band-Aid or whatever. You fix one thing and then there's another one that's always going to be there with every player. It might be something different just than a physical thing. Chris is a good communicator and he understands how important it is the job he's being asked to be done and he's not going to put the team in harm's way if he doesn't feel like he can do it.

"We'll continue to talk to him about it. He's not going to be one of those guys who's going to reach for some excuse when things aren't going well and, 'Oh, there's the reason.' No, he's a good guy about looking in the mirror. It's a pretty good club over there and if you aren't carrying good stuff with good command, you're going to have nights like tonight."

On naming Alec Asher the starter on Friday: "Just felt like he needed to go out there again. I'll tell you one thing that may change now. I'm hoping to talk to Dan (Duquette) here shortly. If we have to make pitching move tomorrow.... Keep in mind how many pitches Ubaldo (Jiménez) threw compared to Asher (when considering) who would be able to give some relief innings with two days off. Obviously not Ubaldo.

"Let's kind of see what we're going to do. That's the only thing that may affect it. I just felt like he deserved another chance."

On Adam Jones being scratched again: "It was supposed to be misty and pick up rain all through the game and the field was pretty sloppy during BP. In fact, I was a little surprised we took BP in that. Didn't think it was going to get any better and I didn't like the risk factor. It was my decision. Adam was ready to go."