Shane Greene pitches 7 1/3 scoreless and O's bats silent in loss to Yankees

Did Shane Greene pitch the game of his life today?

The 25-year-old right-hander certainly pitched the best game of his season. On June 22, he had an ERA of 5.74 for New York's Triple-A Scranton team. Since then, he has pitched 13 scoreless innings in the minors and 13 1/3 innings in the majors, allowing just two runs.

Today, in just his second big league start, he blanked the O's over 7 1/3 innings as the Yankees beat the Orioles 3-0 in front of a sellout crowd of 46,667 at Camden Yards.

On Monday, Greene gave up two runs over six innings against Cleveland in his first major league start, and he topped that today. He gave up just four hits with two walks and nine strikeouts. He is now 2-0 with an ERA of 1.32 in the majors after going 5-2 with an ERA of 4.61 at Triple-A.

His strikeout high in 13 Scranton starts this season was seven and he bettered that here today.

Chris Tillman, meanwhile, pitched a decent game, but took the loss. He went 6 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and three runs. He is now 7-5 with an ERA of 4.11.

Over his last seven outings, Tillman has recorded six quality starts while pitching to an ERA of 2.28.

The Orioles had two big chances against Greene in the fifth and sixth innings after he no-hit them through 4 2/3. But he struck out Nick Hundley with two on and two out in the fifth.

An inning later, Nick Markakis and Steve Pearce led off with singles, setting it up nicely for the middle of the order. Or so it looked. But Greene got Adam Jones to bounce into a double play and struck out Nelson Cruz for his seventh strikeout of the afternoon.

New York took a 1-0 lead in the third on Mark Teixeira's RBI double. Derek Jeter tried to score a second run on the play but was thrown out at the plate on a relay from Markakis to Ryan Flaherty to Hundley. It was the O's 21st outfield assist and eighth for Markakis. They got their 22nd in the top of the seventh when Jones threw Jacoby Ellsbury out at the plate. New York added two runs in the seventh in improving to 47-46.

The Orioles fall to 5-3 against New York, 25-23 at home, 3-4 when they play in front of a home sellout and to 51-42 for the season.

After losing for just the third time in the last 12 games, the Orioles host New York on Sunday night at 8:05 p.m. in the final game before the All-Star break. Kevin Gausman (3-2, 3.51 ERA) gets the start for the Orioles. Right-hander Chase Whitley (4-2, 4.94 ERA) is expected to start for New York.