Orioles' rally falls short in 7-6 loss to Yankees (updated)

The Orioles burst into the unofficial second half of the season with four days’ rest and a streak of 11 wins in their last 13 games. They were energized, and they were playing at home. A perfect pairing on a sweltering night.

The Yankees were swept yesterday in a day-night doubleheader in Houston, boarded their charter flight and arrived in Baltimore this morning. Losers of seven of their last 10 games. They were tired and perhaps a bit irritable.

Holders of the best record in baseball, tormentors of teams below them in the standings, put in an unenviable position.

“Doesn’t matter at all,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said before heading outdoors for batting practice. “It’s the New York Yankees. It’s a really good team, it’s a huge payroll, superstars up and down. They’re pros. They’ll be ready to play.”

All of it true. Nothing that the Orioles could do about it, no matter how hard they fought.

Aaron Judge hit two long home runs off Tyler Wells, a scene that keeps playing out. The Orioles tried to battle back, also a familiar response, but Anthony Santander’s three-run shot off Aroldis Chapman in the seventh couldn’t cover the entire deficit in a 7-6 loss before an announced crowd of 28,468 at Camden Yards.

Santander drove a hanging slider 424 feet to left field, the exit velocity clocked at 109.2 mph, to reduce the Yankees’ lead to 7-6. Chapman faced four batters, retired one and threw two wild pitches, leaving the mound to scattered boos from a large contingent of New York fans.

"I was honestly just looking for a pitch up so I could make good contact on it," Santander said via interpreter Brandon Quinones.

Félix Bautista struck out the side on 12 pitches in the eighth, proving that his right hand is fine, and Dillon Tate struck out the side in the ninth. Michael King retired all three batters he faced and walked off the mound with an injury in the bottom of the eighth, in the middle of Ramón Urías’ at-bat - his right arm was in a sling afterward - but Clay Holmes finished up for the five-out save.

Adley Rutschman reached with one out on an infield single, and pinch-runner Ryan McKenna was stranded.

"I feel like the majority of our losses are like this," Hyde said. "I'm just proud of our guys. We continue to fight and scrap and claw our way back into games that sometimes would get away from us in the past. Our dugout stays into it and we're right there. Holmes is really good, and came in and shut the door."

Judge swung at a 94 mph fastball that caught a little too much of the plate and dumped it into the visiting bullpen in the third inning, a three-run shot with a distance of 436 feet and an exit velocity of 108.6 mph. He came to the plate with the bases empty and two outs in the fifth and cleared both bullpens with a 465-footer, the exit velo clocked at 113.5 mph.

The sound off the bat still carrying through the streets of Baltimore.

"It doesn't help whenever you throw it down the middle to him," Wells said.

"I think that it just shows with Judge, or even that entire Yankees lineup, you miss middle, you make mistakes, you're going to pay for it, and that's part of the reason why they're the best team in baseball.

"I did a lot of that tonight. Left a lot of pitches middle, got punished for it."

That’s eight home runs for Judge against the Orioles this season in 13 games, and 34 in 82 career games to go with 75 RBIs. Eighteen of the home runs have been hit in 42 games in Baltimore.

His second home run is tied for the third longest at Camden Yards. A changeup that Judge obliterated.

"I thought the first one was not in a terrible location, up and in and on the corner. A great player just got to one. And then he beat him with a changeup there that did catch too much plate," Hyde said.

"Wellsy didn't have his normal command there in the first and settled down after that. Just got beat by Judge there a couple times."

Joey Gallo homered off Joey Krehbiel in the seventh for a 7-3 lead.

Hyde chose Wells to start the first game of the unofficial second half. In the meantime, left-hander DL Hall worked only one inning for Triple-A Norfolk in Durham and came out after 17 pitches, with one run and two hits allowed and two strikeouts.

Mike Baumann was warming in the first. Hall’s fastball touched 98 mph, according to the broadcast. A tease that perhaps a light session was scheduled prior to making his major league debut early next week.

Starters for the four-game series against the Rays that begins Monday haven’t been announced. However, the Orioles said Norfolk starters will have shorter outings coming out of the break.

It was fun while it lasted.

Wells stayed in Baltimore for the All-Star break after learning that he’d start tonight. He served as a guest bartender for two hours yesterday at the Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Halethorpe, then headed to the ballpark for a light workout.

He was on tap tonight. Didn’t mug for the MASN cameras. Didn’t hide his frustration after covering first base for the last out in the fifth and firing the ball into the grass near the dugout.  

Wells allowed a career-high five runs in five innings, and he threw 81 pitches before Krehbiel replaced him.

His club-record streak of allowing three runs or fewer ended at 17 starts.

Wells had three full counts against three batters in the first inning, beginning with a leadoff walk to DJ LeMahieu. Judge flied out, Anthony Rizzo struck out and Rutschman completed the double play by throwing out LeMahieu trying to steal.

Wells retired seven batters in a row before walking Gallo, the No. 9 hitter with a .162 average, after getting ahead 1-2. LeMahieu singled and Judge unloaded for his 35^th home run of the season, with Yankees fans chanting “MVP” as he rounded the bases.

No. 36 arrived in the fifth, giving the Yankees 16 multi-homer games this season and eight from Judge.

The Gallo walk "was a borderline pitch we didn't get," Hyde said. "That's unlike him. I'm sure that's one he'd like to have back."

"It's a free pass and it ended up biting us in the butt at the end," Wells said. "That's one extra run that they didn't need and they beat us by one run. But I'll give credit where credit's due. Our team always is continuing to battle back and keep us in the game, and very proud of those guys for it."

Jameson Taillon left after 2 2/3 innings with a 3-2 lead and the bases loaded. The first three Orioles reached against him in the third, with Urías lining a single into left and racing home on Jorge Mateo’s double down the left field line, and Cedric Mullins producing a run-scoring single through the shift.

A two-out bloop single for Santander and walk to Ryan Mountcastle forced left-hander Lucas Luetge into the game, and Austin Hays popped up.

The Yankees answered right back with back-to-back, one-out doubles by Josh Donaldson and Jose Trevino in the fourth. A possible play at the plate was dashed when Rougned Odor held the ball too long on the relay.

Krehbiel allowed a run in the sixth on a two-out single by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who also tested Rutschman and was thrown out trying to steal.

Rutschman doubled in the fifth, his 16^th in 47 games.

Urías had an RBI groundout in the bottom of the sixth after Hays walked and Odor doubled. Gallo returned the margin to four runs in the seventh, but Chapman went single, wild pitch, strikeout, wild pitch, walk and home run.

A third loss in four games lowered the Orioles’ record to 46-47. But they remain a feisty bunch, with no deficit too daunting.

"We've been doing this all year," Wells said.

"I thought our players performed well," Hyde said. "We got down early, we battled back to make it a one-run game. Santander with a huge homer. They have really good arms in the bullpen, as you saw, and so do we. Thought we took good at-bats and we battled tonight. We came up a run short."

Santander expected a win after his home run swung the momentum.

"That's always the mentality, that we're going to keep fighting, never lose focus," he said. "We've got to keep battling and try to win this game."

Hyde appreciated the crowd's enthusiasm, with chants of "Let's Go O's" in the ninth countering the familiar "Let's Go Yankees." A spirited back and forth.

"I loved it," he said. "I thought our fans were absolutely outstanding. There's so much energy in the ballpark and we did feel that in the dugout.

"The atmosphere was phenomenal."

"The crowd was incredible," Santander said. "They kept supporting us until the very end. A lot of great energy. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the job done tonight, but it was great to see that the fans were super into it."