O's game blog: Looking for a bounceback win against New York

It was not the start the Orioles wanted to their final road trip before the All-Star break. They took a 3-0 lead then watched the New York Yankees storm back for a 6-3 victory in the opener of a four-game series in the Bronx.

O’s pitching allowed three homers, accounting for five of the six Yankees runs. Center fielder Harrison Bader hit a three-run shot off lefty Danny Coulombe in the last of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie as New York picked up its 18^th comeback win.

O’s starter Tyler Wells allowed two runs and five hits over six innings, delivering a quality start – the O’s 29^th of the season. Wells has pitched five innings or more in each of his 17 appearances this season, and is the first O’s pitcher to toss at least five frames in each of his first 17 games of a season since Miguel González to begin the 2013 season. The last, longer streak by a Baltimore pitcher was Mike Mussina’s 24-game streak to begin the 1994 season. Wells has thrown six innings or more in nine of his 16 starts and this was his eighth quality start.

He has now allowed 21 home runs, which is tied for the fourth-most by an O’s pitcher before the All-Star break. Wells has given up two homers or more seven times.

The O’s are now 21-8 when they get a quality start, and they have gotten one in 11 of their past 21 games.

But with this loss, the Orioles fall to 49-34, and are six games behind first-place Tampa Bay, which did not play Monday. The Orioles have lost five of six games, seven of 11 and nine of the last 15.

Since they took two of three from the Yankees in New York in a series that ended May 25, they are 4-6-1 the last 11 series and 16-17 in 33 games.

The Birds are still scuffling for some offense, scoring just six runs the last four games and hitting only one homer in that span. The Orioles have scored three runs or less 14 times in the past 24 games, going 3-11 in those 14 games.

Catcher Adley Rutschman had three hits, including an RBI double, in the series opener. He’s hit safely in each of his last five games, batting .364 (8-for-22). In 16 career games versus the Yankees, Rutschman is hitting .367/.472/.517 (22-for-60) with six doubles, one homer, four RBIs and 12 walks.

Third baseman Gunnar Henderson went 1-for-5 with a single and a run scored. He is batting .292/.393/.500 (7-for-24) with five runs, two doubles, a homer and four RBIs in seven games against the Yankees this year. Since the beginning of June, he has hit .306 (26-for-85) with six homers and 16 RBIs.

Ryan O’Hearn recorded his ninth multi-hit game of the season and produced an RBI single in the third inning. O’Hearn hit three balls 100 mph or more on Monday night.

Anthony Santander, the DH yesterday, went 2-for-4 and doubled in the seventh. That double was registered with an exit velocity of 110.9 mph, the hardest hit of his career in the Statcast era.

New York (47-38) has won six of nine and eight of its last 13 games. Over the past 35 games, New York is 17-18. The Yankees gained a game on the Orioles and are now three games back of Baltimore for second place in the American League East.

Right-hander Kyle Gibson (8-5, 4.66 ERA) will make his 18th start today. He had an ERA of 3.94 before giving up 11 runs and 16 hits over 7 2/3 innings his past two games against Seattle and Cincinnati. 

Gibson blanked the Yankees on two hits over seven innings on May 25 on 96 pitches as the Orioles beat New York. In four starts this season versus the AL East, Gibson is 3-1 with 2.52 ERA and .591 OPS against.

Yankees starter right-hander Clarke Schmidt (3-6, 4.37 ERA) will make his 18th start, and the Yankees are 5-12 in the first 17. But over his past eight starts since May 14, when his ERA was 6.30, Schmidt has an ERA of 2.55.