Tillman's early exit leads to 16-3 loss (with quotes)

NEW YORK - The first inning doesn't just bite Orioles starter Chris Tillman, it tears at his flesh like a shark and circles back for more.

The Yankees smelled blood tonight and they were relentless. Ten batters came to the plate in the first. Two of them hit home runs. Only 28 pitches were thrown because the hosts were in full-blown attack mode.

It brought no comfort to Tillman that they didn't let up in the second.

Tillman retired only four batters and surrendered a career-high nine runs, and the Orioles couldn't do much offensively in a 16-3 loss to the Yankees that dropped them 5 1/2 games out of first place in the American League East.

The Orioles are 31-29 overall and 10-19 on the road. They've lost three in a row and five of seven.

Aaron Judge and Didi Gregorius hit home runs in the first inning and Starlin Castro ended Tillman's night with a three-run shot in the second, dropping the bat and taking a leisurely stroll up the first base line. Tillman's walk to the dugout wouldn't be nearly as pleasurable.

Tillman allowed seven hits, walked three batters and threw a wild pitch. He lasted 45 pitches, 21 for strikes, before Stefan Crichton replaced him, and his ERA rose to 8.01 in 30 1/3 innings.

Take away Dylan Bundy's outing last night and Orioles starters have totaled eight innings in three starts.

Matt Holliday hit a three-run homer off Crichton in the fourth to inflate the lead to 12-0. Crichton also pitched last night and gave up two runs and four hits in 1 1/3 innings. He logged two innings tonight and was charged with three runs.

Edwin Jackson began to warm after Holliday's home run despite also pitching last night and allowing three unearned runs in two-thirds of an inning. He entered with one out in the fourth, stranded a runner and surrendered Judge's two-run double in the fifth.

Mike Wright entered in the eighth and served up a two-run homer to Gary Sánchez.

The 16 runs are the most surrendered by the Orioles since the Twins scored 19 on July 16, 2012. Tillman started that game and allowed seven runs, only one earned, in two-thirds of an inning.

Tillman was threatening to turn in the shortest start of his career, but he recorded an out in the second inning. He retired the leadoff hitter in both innings, so maybe it's an overrated achievement.

Tillman's shortest outing before tonight came on June 5, 2014, when he retired only three Rangers. He also lasted only one inning on May 21, 2014 in Pittsburgh and went 1 1/3 innings on June 21, 2015 in Toronto. He also had starts of 2 2/3 and 2 1/3 innings that season, and 1 2/3 and two innings last summer.

It's not unusual for Tillman to exit early, but he's been able to bounce back. The Orioles need it to happen in five days.

Over Tillman's seven starts this year, opponents are batting .444 (16-for-36) and he's registered a 16.71 ERA with 13 runs allowed in seven innings. He retired the first two batters tonight on a strikeout and ground ball before seven in a row reached base.

Judge's home run was clocked at 121.1 mph, the fastest in the statcast era. Holliday singled, Starlin Castro doubled and they both scored on Sánchez's single. Gregorius followed with a two-run homer, Chase Headley walked, Tillman threw a wild pitch and Chris Carter produced a run-scoring single for a 6-0 lead

Tillman didn't watch the flight of Castro's ball in the second after he walked Judge and Holliday. He turned toward second base, glanced to his right and waited for the next batter.

Or for manager Buck Showalter, who came out of the dugout to get him. Crichton got the next batter.

The Orioles didn't have a baserunner against Luis Severino until Mark Trumbo led off the fifth inning with a walk. Trey Mancini singled to right field with one out to break up the no-hit bid.

Chris Davis ended the shutout bid with a solo home run with two outs in the seventh to reduce the lead to 14-1. Joey Rickard, who began the game on the bench, hit a solo home run off reliever Giovanny Gallegos in the eighth. Caleb Joseph had a pinch-hit RBI single with two outs in the ninth. No one in pinstripes was worried.

Davis was the Orioles' fourth baserunner of the night. Rubén Tejada walked in the sixth.

J.J. Hardy nearly was involved in a violent collision with Mancini while chasing a fly ball in the fifth. Hardy had it in his glove, tripped over Mancini and lost it. The play was ruled a double and Judge followed with his two-run double.

Hardy and Adam Jones came out of the game in the bottom of the sixth with the Yankees ahead 14-0. Tejada moved to shortstop, Davis moved across the diamond to third, Mancini switched to first, Hyun Soo Kim went into left field and Rickard entered in center.

Trumbo went from designated hitter to third baseman in the eighth inning, his first appearance at the hot corner since August 2013. Joseph was pinch-hitting for Wright.

Though he took a hard spill, Hardy remained in the dugout as the game continued. The Orioles never could get back in the game after the first inning.

Showalter on Tillman's issues: "Just not very crisp. If you could see some of the replays, and you've got a lot to look at, breaking ball wasn't very crisp. Just a lot of issues with location and stuff."

Showalter on Tillman's problems in first inning: "He came out and threw some quality fastball strikes first hitter or two and I thought that's really a good sign, but they're good hitters and they make you pay for the mistakes. He made a lot of them and we made a lot of them tonight. It just wasn't good."

Showalter on the offense struggling against Severino: "He's got maybe now the fourth-best ERA in the American League, which means he'd be leading the National League, so he's a good pitcher. Really good. And that's why they're having a good year. But I'm not going to fault our guys, especially when you get down. It knocks a lot of air out of your sails."

Showalter on whether Hardy is OK physically: "I think so. Another reason why we teach the high-low with infielders/outfielders. Glad, cause that normally would have been pretty ugly. But glad Trey remembered how to do it. Two guys going hard after the ball and I think we got lucky there so far. But I just took him out because he landed pretty hard. But actually the lick and everything is OK.

"Trying to get a lot of guys out of that game if I could. Got Adam out of there early and got Chris off the field. Casi (Welington Castillo) felt good, and hopefully he'll be fine to catch tomorrow. That was good.

"There were a lot of good things that happened tonight, too. Trey played a great left field. I'm sure you've all been watching. He made two really good throws to the plate, made a really great catch down the line. That's been really fun to watch him play left field with limited experience. I thought (Richard) Bleier had a great outing. He's very quietly having a good early part of the year for us. There's some positives there."

Showalter on manufacturing run in ninth: "There's some things that make you happy. I told Jon (Schoop) that's a big league at-bat he had the last time, taking a walk, and that's a real sign of maturity, not giving in to the moments. Our guys are frustrated and I've got a lot of confidence in their responses."

Showalter on whether he needs to make bullpen changes: "Guys who pitched well, I'd like to keep them. That's what you're doing. And I was trying to maneuver around where Mike could stay away from a long outing, but he got into a deep pitch count there, too. I haven't heard anything from anybody yet, so hopefully I will."

Tillman on what went wrong: "Bad execution, real poor execution. It felt like we got two quick outs and we were in such a hurry to get the breaking stuff going that it kind of snowballed real quick. It was bad execution."

Tillman on first-inning issues: "I felt good. I really didn't have to search for anything that first inning. I think I found everything in my bullpen. All my pitches I felt like I could have gone to at any point. It was just trying to get too far ahead and trying to get that breaking stuff going so early when you get two quick outs. Pitching stupid."

Tillman when asked if he tried to slow things down: "I wasn't trying to slow anything down. The more I was trying to make a pitch, I felt like just kept missing, too much plate. I kept trying to throw strikes, getting ahead, and you're missing right over the heart of the plate and that's a good team. They put a lot of good swings on some bad pitches."

Tillman on how he's bounced back in the past: "Yeah, that's the only thing we really know how to do. You have to keep moving forward. You can't dwell on what happened. I can't do anything about what happened. I've just got to get my work in and get better for the next one. When you start dwelling on it, it can become something you really don't want to be a part of."

Mancini on falling behind big early: "It's not a great feeling, but it happens. It happens to every team at some point, but everybody still wants to put some runs up and maybe try to make it a game. No matter what the score is, I think that's what everybody tries to do, when they're hitting and still competing and you don't want to lay down. I don't think we exactly did. They just had a really good offensive night over there."

Mancini on play with Hardy: "I was playing a little more in the gap on that one, but I went low and he went high. That's what we're supposed to do. I kind of like took him out a little bit, slid into him, and then we collided there. I think if I was playing more like straight up, then I might have been able get there and catch it. In hindsight, it could have been worse as far as a collision goes, but that's what happened on that one."

Mancini on whether he realized Orioles were being no-hit: "I was aware of that, but I wasn't really thinking about that when I was up. Against him, he throws everything hard, so you just have to maybe cut your swing down a little bit, kind of opposite field, and let your hands take over. I think that's the way to approach it."