Gausman goes three, Hays makes debut in 9-1 loss to Yanks

The Orioles lost their off-day and an important series.

Forced to play this afternoon after yesterday's postponement, the Orioles fell behind by three runs in the first inning and seven in the fourth and never threatened the Yankees in a 9-1 loss before an announced crowd of 14,946 at Camden Yards.

So much for Manny Machado's dramatic walk-off home run Tuesday night somehow creating momentum for the Orioles. Again, it's dependent largely on the starting pitching, and Kevin Gausman turned in one of his shortest outings of the season.

Gausman was done after allowing five runs and throwing 79 pitches in three innings. He surrendered five hits and walked three batters, and the Orioles didn't recover.

The Orioles head to Cleveland with a 71-69 record and are 6-9 against the Yankees. They went 6-4 on the homestand.

Chase Headley hit a two-run homer off Mike Wright in the fourth inning, Starlin Castro contributed a solo shot off Donnie Hart in the sixth and Todd Frazier homered off Richard Rodríguez in the seventh for a 9-1 lead. The Orioles recalled Wright this morning.

They never should have pulled up the tarp.

Four pitchers combining for four home runs. It was that kind of day, that kind of lopsided loss.

Austin Hays made his major league debut in right field in the top of the ninth, as manager Buck Showalter began to empty his bench. Anthony Santander went to left field and Chance Sisco caught, with Caleb Joseph moving to third base. Ryan Flaherty spent one inning at third and shifted to second.

Hays batted with two outs in the ninth and bounced to short on the seventh pitch from reliever Ben Heller.

Three innings matches the second-shortest non-ejection start for Gausman this season. He went 2 2/3 innings on April 18 in Cincinnati and three innings on July 14 against the Cubs.

In five starts against the Yankees this season, Gausman has been torched for 23 earned runs over 22 1/3 innings.

The rotation has totaled 13 1/3 innings in the last four games. Chris Tillman and Dylan Bundy worked four innings, Jeremy Hellickson 2 1/3 and Gausman three.

Gausman hadn't allowed a run in his last two starts over 13 2/3 innings, but Brett Gardner scored with two outs in the first inning on Didi Gregorius' double inside first base and Aaron Judge put a ball deep into the center field bleachers for his 39th homer of the season.

The home run was Judge's ninth against the Orioles in 15 games and made him 22-for-46 with 18 RBIs and 18 walks. His 19th walk came in the third inning.

Gausman threw 36 pitches in the first frame. Yankees starter Sonny Gray threw 10, getting a double play from Machado after Tim Beckham's leadoff single.

The Yankees wasted a two-out single and walk in the second inning, Gausman's pitch count swelling to 54, but they scored twice in the third and manager Buck Showalter made the switch.

Gregorius reached on an infield hit on a play originally ruled an error on Beckham, Judge walked and Matt Holliday followed with an RBI single. Judge scored on Jacoby Ellsbury's fielder's choice grounder to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead.

The Orioles avoided a shutout in the sixth when Adam Jones scored with two outs on Gregorius' throwing error on an attempted force play. Jones led off with an infield hit and Chris Davis singled with two outs. Mark Trumbo followed with a ground ball to Gregorius, who decided to get fancy again.

It worked a few times, but not on this play.

Not that it really mattered. The Orioles didn't have another rally in them. The only walk-off led them inside a quiet clubhouse.