Wrapping up a 7-3 loss (updated)

NEW YORK - Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he's waiting until the smoke clears to confirm that Kevin Gausman is starting on Sunday.

This isn't smoke from a torched lead. It's just an expression.

Gausman probably will get the start while the Orioles try to clinch a wild card and perhaps a home game. It's coming down to Game 162. Can you believe it?

"Oh sure. Yeah, you can," Showalter said. "It's a real tribute to our guys to have an opportunity like we have tomorrow. That's how we look at it. They've done a lot of things to give us that opportunity and I'm real proud and honored to be with them today and tomorrow."

The Orioles were winning 3-0 today in the bottom of the fifth inning, couldn't build on their lead, couldn't slow the Yankees' comeback and lost 7-3 in the Bronx. They'll watch the Blue Jays, Tigers and Mariners games, or at least check the scores, knowing they can't clinch a playoff berth before going to bed.

This one has to sting, no matter the resiliency of this club.

Wade Miley gave up a run in the sixth but held a 3-2 lead. Rather than pass the baton, the Orioles stuck with Miley in the seventh and rookie Tyler Austin led off with the game-tying home run.

Ronald Torreyes singled and Mychal Givens replaced Miley - too late for many fans who vented on social media. Brad Brach was charged with four runs in the eighth, the last two on Brett Gardner's two-run double off Oliver Drake.

Why stick with Miley? Showalter referred to all the left-handers on the Yankees bench.

"This convoluted thing called 'September baseball,' you're just picking your poison when you've got guys like (Gary) Sanchez and (Brian) McCann and (Didi) Gregorius and (Jacoby) Ellsbury and all those guys sitting over there and you're trying to ..." Showalter said. "That's why guys on the field shake their heads about the way it is now. But that didn't beat us. We just didn't pitch. The big thing is we didn't score any runs after the three we put up.

"Our bullpen didn't pitch as well as we ... Brad had pitched two innings one day, but once you go somewhere else, you're going to bring all those guys off the bench, too, so there's a lot of different ways to look at it. We just didn't get much done in any way we went today. Tomorrow's another day."

Left-handers are 5-for-38 off rookie Donnie Hart after he retired McCann to start the eighth. They were batting .370 against Givens before today, which would have started the parade of pinch-hitters.

Showalter also explained that he thought Miley was pitching well and stuck with him. But he also went back to expanded rosters and the left-handers on the Yankees' bench.

"You're going to start that gate opening up there, too," he said, "but that's why when you're playing this time of the year you have those issues where you don't during the season."

Brach walked Ellsbury, gave up a double to Chase Headley and surrendered a two-run single to Austin Romine that gave New York a 5-3 lead.

"Just sucked," he said. "I was not good today. That was pretty much it. Fortunately, this was game 161 and tie game. Just not very good today."

The Yankees didn't scald the ball, but they found the openings and closed the Orioles' hopes of clinching tonight.

"When things are going bad, it's what's going to happen," said Brach, who allowed one earned run in 12 innings last month after posting a 5.06 ERA in August. "Can't walk the leadoff guy like I did. Chase just placed it right. Sometimes it's better to place it right than to hit it hard.

"It seemed like we were in control there for six innings and then all of a sudden you look at the scoreboard, and it's tied. And I just went out there and got out of hand quick and didn't turn around quick enough.

"It's frustrating anytime you have a lead heading into the sixth inning, especially with the bullpen that we have, and we weren't able to get it done. Obviously with the magnitude of the game amplifies that a little big. Not a good feeling."

Catcher Matt Wieters said Brach was throwing "fine."

"Really, a ground ball that got down the line," Wieters said. "The walk to Ellsbury is probably the biggest thing from that inning that hurt a little bit and then Chase hits a ground ball down the line. And he gets a broken-bat flare with the infield in and that's really how they scored."

Said Showalter: "He's been pitching pretty well. It's almost impossible to continue at the level he was pitching for about three-fourths of the season. It's just like, I think everybody knows (Dellin) Betances is one of the best relievers in the game and everybody knows Brad is. That's the world they live in. It's hard to be perfect every time out there, just like none of us are in our lives."

Miley was cruising until the fifth and still had the lead after the sixth.

"He got two balls up over the plate," Wieters said. "He'd been locating in well all day and his slider had been good. And one ball to Austin, slider kind of backed up on him a little bit and same thing with the fastball to Torreyes. Maybe a little bit of fatigue. He got the ball back over the middle of the plate and they took two good swings on them."

Was Wieters surprised that Miley came back out for the seventh?

"He'd been throwing the ball well," Wieters replied. "I can't say what Buck was thinking, but I know if he can get those first two guys out then he gets the left-on-left matchup that he wants. But it turned out where they put two good swings on two balls.

"If it works out where he gets the first two guys, then you leave him in to face (Brett) Gardner and it looks great."

It was a mess after the eighth. It was a crushing loss after the ninth.

The Orioles again will call upon their resiliency while trying to clinch on Sunday.

"Yeah, we've done it all year, so we'll do the same thing," Wieters said. "This game is over. Would have been a nice game to win, but we didn't, so we'll put it behind us and tomorrow's a big game.

"It would have been a nice game to win. At the same point, we're playing for what we need to be playing for tomorrow, so we'll forget about this one and move forward. And tomorrow's what we've been playing the whole season for anyway, so it shouldn't be hard to get ready for the game tomorrow."

"We know what we have to do," Miley said. "We just have to come back tomorrow, flush this game and win the ballgame tomorrow."

Miley said he felt good after the sixth, his pitch count at 99.

"Austin laid off some pretty good breaking balls in after I got him 1-2 and 3-2 went back to it and left it up and over the plate and he did what he was supposed to do," Miley said.

"I think I threw pretty well over all. Just a couple mistakes I made later in the game that they made me pay for. The slider 3-2 just kind of spun over the middle of the plate and he hammered it. Threw a curveball to Headley, just didn't execute the pitch. For the most part I thought I had pretty good command."

Wieters said he'll watch the other games tonight, just not with the same emotion.

"It would have been nice to watch them with the win today," he said, "but at the same time, still watch them and I'll pull for the Braves and I'll pull for the A's and I'll pull for the Red Sox tonight."

No one's going to spend all night lamenting today's loss, agonizing over every pitch and missed bat and controversial decision, no matter how tempting.

"They're all tough. They all count," Showalter said, refusing to place special emphasis on this one. "We gave up seven runs and you're not going to win many games like that, so that part of it is tough. But losing games, the timing's never good."

Update: The Blue Jays won tonight and are tied with the Orioles for the first wild card. They own the tie-breaker.

The Orioles will host the wild card game if they win Sunday and the Jays lose.

Since the Tigers lost tonight, the Orioles can clinch a playoff berth with a win on Sunday.