Bashed in the Bronx: Can O's regroup in series finale?

It was Wednesday night when the Orioles pulled off a second straight rally in the ninth inning against Pittsburgh that led to a second straight extra innings win. Trey Mancini homered in the ninth to tie it and in the 11th to win. It was pretty special stuff.

Since then the Orioles have lost three in a row and been outscored 30-6. The Yankees have hit eight homers the past two nights. The Yankees are averaging 10.8 runs per game at Yankee Stadium against Baltimore pitching in going 4-1 this year against the Orioles.

Chris Tillman got the first two outs in the first inning on seven pitches last night. Then the next five batters produced two homers and five runs on his next nine pitches. Talk about an ambush. He didn't have time to breath. Tillman has a career 5.21 ERA in the first inning, his worst of any inning. Over his past four starts he has allowed 13 runs in that inning.

The Orioles trailed 12-0 after the fourth inning and lost 16-3 to the Yankees Saturday night. At least they avoided the worst shutout loss in team history. That was by a 16-0 score against the Yankees in 1960.

You want a positive note? By now you must be begging for one. This is strange but true - the 2014 Orioles were 31-29 after 60 games and 5 1/2 games out of first. The 2017 Orioles are 31-29 after 60 games and 5 1/2 games out of first. That 2014 team won the AL East by 12 games, going 96-66. That means the 2017 Orioles would have to go 65-37 the rest of the way to match that win total. But it has happened before, right?

Here are a few others notes and they are not great. We just don't have a lot of great one to pass on right now:

* The Orioles have scored three runs or less three straight and in six of the past eight games.

* The Orioles have lost eight consecutive road games and are 1-12 in their past 13 away from Oriole Park.

* Yankee hitters have cleaned up on O's pitching in five games at Yankee Stadium. They are batting .347 with 52 runs and have hit 18 home runs. In those games, New York has scored 14, 12, four, eight and 16 runs against Baltimore pitchers.

* The O's team ERA went from 4.41 to 4.61 last night. Over the past four games O's starters have pitched 2 2/3, four, six and 1 1/3 innings. They have allowed 21 runs in those 14 innings. The starters' ERA for the year is up to 5.00.

* Since the Orioles were 22-10 through May 9, they have gone 9-19 and the rotation ERA is 6.15 in that time.

* Orioles pitchers have an ERA of 3.63 in home games and 5.74 on the road.

To say the least the Orioles could use a big outing out of right-hander Kevin Gausman today to stop the bleeding and leave New York 4 ½ games out. That would mean after all the bashing they would have lost just one game in the standings over the weekend.

The Yankees begin a west coast road trip after this. The O's play seven straight against teams with losing records starting Monday. They have to get this going in another direction - a better direction - and soon.