NEW YORK — The Orioles had a pair of two-out, run-scoring hits in their 3-2 loss to the Yankees on Tuesday night in the Bronx, so you couldn't say they didn't have any clutch hits. And they had some hard-hit balls against Yankees pitching. But the result Tuesday was the same, another loss defined by an Orioles offense that has produced too little, too late.
Even though he allowed the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning – right after the Orioles tied the game with two runs in the top of the inning – left-hander Wei-Yin Chen pitched well enough to win, posting his club-high 13th quality start in 18 outings this season.
The Orioles were handcuffed by Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi early. Like many pitchers before him, Eovaldi beat a fastball-feasting Orioles lineup with a heavy dose of off-speed pitches. He started the Orioles with his mid-90s fastball early in the count often, but kept them off balance by using his splitter as an out pitch later in counts.
"He's got good stuff," said Matt Wieters, who hit one of the Orioles' two two-out RBI singles in the sixth inning. "He's able to use a lot of off-speed stuff. We thought coming in, he's been using his off-speed stuff more. Anytime a guy can throw that hard and mix in his off-speed stuff for strikes, it's going to be a battle. We were able to tie it up off him. We just weren't able to hold it."
Eovaldi held the Orioles to just one hit over five innings and four hits total over his 5 2/3 innings. The Orioles recorded seven hits in the game, but no extra-base hits, the seventh time this season the Orioles did not record an extra-base hit. They are 0-7 in those games.
Had Jonathan Schoop's line drive down the left-field line in the fifth inning landed fair – it hit just outside the chalk – the Orioles would have almost certainly had a rally-starting RBI double since there were runners on first and second and two outs.
But that didn't happen, and the Orioles didn't create many more scoring opportunities outside of their two-run sixth inning.
It's a shame because Chen has recorded six straight quality starts, the longest streak by an Orioles pitcher and the longest since Miguel Gonzalez tossed six straight quality starts from Aug. 7 to Sept. 13 of last season.
The Orioles are just 3-3 in those six games and have lost each of Chen's last three starts.
Chen has also allowed three earned runs or fewer in 16 of his 18 starts and has gone six or more innings 14 times, but the Orioles are just 10-8 in those games.
Five of Chen's seven career starts at Yankee Stadium have been quality starts, but the Orioles are just 1-4 in those games.
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