One that got away: O's lose lead, game at New York

We haven't seen it happen for a while, but today the Orioles lost and contributed to their own demise. Leading 3-1 with two outs and a man on first in the bottom of the seventh, the Orioles went on to allow three runs in the inning to lose 4-3 today at Yankee Stadium. From that point on, Orioles pitchers allowed a walk, an RBI single, a walk, a bases-loaded walk and then there was an error on J.J. Hardy with two outs and the bases loaded that put New York ahead 4-3. Pedro Strop struggled with his command, walking the first two hitters he faced in the seventh before the error broke the 3-3 tie. The loss drops the Orioles to 73-59, and they missed a chance to pull within a game of first place, instead dropping three games back. The Orioles 13-game win streak in one-run games ended. It was their first loss in such a game since a 4-3 loss to the Mets in New York on June 20. The blown lead cost Wei-Yin Chen his 13th win. He gave up four hits and four runs (three earned) over 6 2/3 to fall to 12-8 with an ERA of 3.79. The Orioles also had several chances to score more than three runs today as starter David Phelps walked six over 4 2/3 innings, and they hit into two double plays in the first two innings. On the day, the O's went just 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. For the Orioles, they scored one run on a double play grounder, their second on a Manny Machado single and third on a Matt Wieters solo homer. The Orioles are now 6-7 on the year against New York and 5-3 at Yankee Stadium and have lost for just the third time in the last nine games between the teams. In the series finale on Sunday at 1:05 p.m., Chris Tillman (7-2, 3.26 ERA) pitches against Phil Hughes (13-11, 4.02 ERA).