Showalter, Worley and Joseph on 7-1 loss

NEW YORK - Only a half game separates the Orioles from the Red Sox in the American League East. Their bench is thinner than tissue paper and their offense continues to sputter. Another starter failed to provide length, though the lack of run support basically requires perfection.

This hasn't been the best start to the second half.

The Orioles lost their third game in a row tonight, falling to the Yankees 7-1 in the Bronx. They were held to four hits and increased the trade value of another New York starter.

The last 11 batters were retired and the Yankees didn't need any of their three dominant relievers. Anthony Swarzak and Nick Goody were good enough against the Orioles, who fell to 53-39 while playing without Hyun Soo Kim, Chris Davis and Matt Wieters.

Kim went on the disabled list today with a strained hamstring and manager Buck Showalter doesn't know whether Davis (illness) or Wieters (foot) will be available Wednesday night.

The Orioles have scored 52 runs in their last 15 games and 10 in five games since the break. They broke through in the sixth inning tonight on Joey Rickard's RBI double and loaded the bases with one out.

Swarzak replaced starter Nathan Eovaldi and retired Mark Trumbo and Jonathan Schoop on pop ups. An opportunity was lost and a game would follow.

"Yeah, we had a good shot and some good people up without Matty and Chris and Kim," Showalter said "Hopefully, we get Darren (O'Day) back here before too long. When you get those opportunities, you have to cash them in because you're not going to get many.

"Matt's pretty sore and I talked to Chris before the game. He had a little better color, a little better look. He's had a pretty tough go of it. I'm proud he came into the locker room and got back in the environment. He's starting to eat a little bit. I think he tried to have a banana and some other stuff, but he's just getting to the point where he's able to hold some stuff down."

A New York writer asked Showalter whether the loss is easier to stomach because the Orioles are missing key players.

"No, not at all," he replied. "We've been without people all year, just like the Yankees have and everybody has. It's part of the gig. You don't stomach it or use it as an excuse. We don't live in that world."

The bats have gone cold in the past and heated up without warning. It's got to happen again.

"You don't say this is just 'que sera', something that comes about," Showalter said. "You can't live in that world. We're better than that. I know our guys are frustrated but you also have to tip your hat to their pitching."

Vance Worley, making his first start since April 15, allowed three runs and three hits in 4 1/3 innings. The four walks hurt, including one to Didi Gregorius in the second that completed a 10-pitch at-bat and was followed by Starlin Castro's home run.

"I thought he attacked it well," Showalter said. "We didn't give him very much margin for error. Just not doing much offensively and they pitched pretty well."

Odrisamer Despaigne, Donnie Hart and Mychal Givens each walked a batter in relief. Hart's free pass to Carlos Beltran was intentional.

"Yeah, we were walking too many people," Showalter said. "Not (Worley) necessarily. It's not like he was wild. He was just missing and there were some pitches that could go either way. It was a pretty tight zone, but he was good. You can't fault the effort he gave us. I would have taken that going in."

Plate umpire Todd Tichenor wouldn't give Worley a third strike on Gregorius, leading to the walk. It wasn't the only pitch that could have gone in Worley's favor.

"They were close, they were close," Worley said with a grin.

"For me, I'm a momentum kind of guy. They put up some good at-bats and fouled a lot of good pitches off and made me work. A couple of the guys I wasn't going to give into and give them something to hit, so they were patient enough to take the pitches that I wanted them to swing at. Fortunately, there were just three and it could have been worse.

"Overall, I thought it went pretty well. I was able to keep the ball down and really the only ball that was hit hard was the home run. I thought they put up some good at-bats tonight, fouled off a lot of good pitches and made me work."

Worley denied feeling pressure to be perfect while the bats are in a deep freeze.

"No, I don't change anything about my approach out there," he said. "I'm the kind of guy who throws to contact and I let my defense work. The faster I can get them off the field so they can hit ...

"It's a game of momentum. If we're in the dugout more often and they're off their feet, they're going to be more comfortable out there swinging and playing the game. If they're constantly on their heels playing defense, it only makes it harder for them to come up and hit."

Worley has no idea whether he's getting another start. His next turn would fall Sunday against the Indians at Camden Yards.

"Tomorrow, I know I'm down if they do decide to put me in the 'pen, but I'm going to treat it as if I'm in the rotation until they tell me I'm out," Worley said. "I'll get my work in and do what I need to do and it's up to them to make their decision on how they want to go as far as going forward."

Caleb Joseph, replacing Wieters behind the plate, said he thought Worley did a "nice job."

"I thought he moved the ball in and out," Joseph said. "I think the only thing he might want to take back is the walks. It seemed like those guys scored when they got on. Otherwise, he made them put the ball in play. He got out of a nice jam there in the second. The pitch count got up there a little bit.

"For the most part, he was efficient. He had that second inning jammed up, but he did a nice job closing it out there. When he came out of the game, we still had a chance to win, so anytime you can get that from your starter, that's nice."

Joseph wanted that last pitch to Gregorius.

"I thought that was a nice pitch," he said. "Todd's got a nice tight zone. It's one of those things where you want it, but at the same time you've got to make quality pitches right after it. Sometimes, those calls, they don't go your way, but you've got to find a way to make a pitch after that."

The Orioles need to figure out how to score more runs or it's not going to matter.

"Their starter tonight, he throws the ball really hard," Joseph said. "He's got nice sink on it, good cutter, good split, just kept us off balance. And then when we did get him on the ropes, we just didn't take advantage of it. Very similar to the game in Tampa.

"We've got to find way to continue to grind at-bats out, to get guys on base, whether it's a walk or a two-strike hit or something. That's something that we usually do that prolongs innings that gives us a chance to win games.

"We're better than what we've shown. We can do better than that."

Tonight's game included another catcher's interference call with Jacoby Ellsbury at the plate, his ninth this season - believed to be the most in a single season. Roberto Kelly had eight with the Yankees in 1992 with Showalter managing the team.

Ellsbury leads the majors with 23 since 2007. According to Elias, it's the most since Pete Rose drew 29 catcher's interference calls.

Ellsbury reached with one out in the first after his bat made contact with Joseph's mitt. Beltran hit into a double play and no run scored, but it still had the Orioles checking the video.

"I was shocked he was still able to get a piece of me," Joseph said. "Ball's outside and he's going to get it. He's done it quite often over the past few years and you just got to get farther back. The only thing I'm concerned about is the farther back I get, you're taking strikes out of the strike zone. It's a happy medium there. Luckily, he didn't score."

"The nine catchers walking around with errors probably aren't too happy about it," Showalter said. "There's nothing illegal about it. He's in the box and the catcher's in the box. There's something to be done about it. He's making contact behind the plate, so there's nothing illegal about it. He's been doing it for a number of years. I'm sure there's nine catchers who would like to see something change.

"It doesn't seem fair to the defense when those balls are probably going to be foul balls. I don't know. I couldn't say for sure. I went to look at it between innings and he's making contact there. You have to be fair with him, too, because he's trying to swing the bat in a legal manor. There's just got to be a better way to handle it."