Yankees fall to Orioles again as offense has another quiet night

BALTIMORE — After getting shut out on Monday night, the Yankees lamented putting balls in play and not seeing them fall.

They sang a familiar refrain Tuesday after watching the Orioles thrive on just that and take advantage of their athleticism.

The Orioles mostly sprayed the ball around to where the Yankees were not while keeping them in check for a second straight night, handing Aaron Boone’s club a 4-2 loss at Camden Yards.

After scoring 15 runs in back-to-back games, it was a second straight quiet night for the Yankees’ offense.

They avoided a shutout this time, but Orioles right-hander Dean Kremeer limited them to just a pair of solo home runs by Austin Wells and Juan Soto across seven innings.

“It’s baseball,” Soto said. “At the end of the day, we’re all grinding, we’re all trying to get some runs on the board. But things aren’t going our way. We’re hitting the ball hard. They’re making great plays, they’re diving all over the place. We gave good at-bats, we’re hitting the ball hard and they just haven’t landed for us.”

A night after going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving 10 men on base, the Yankees (19-12) went 0-for-1 with runners in scoring position and stranded four.

They grounded into three double plays — extending their league-lead to 36 on the season — that squashed potential rallies.

Soto and Wells were responsible for four of the Yankees’ five hits.

The team did hit nine balls with an exit velocity over 95 mph, but three of them were double-play balls off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and Aaron Judge.

“We’re putting the ball in play well,” Boone said. “We’re having the right at-bats. We just got to break through. Especially when you’re playing a good team, you got to take advantage of some opportunities.”

The Orioles (19-10), meanwhile, used a three-run fourth inning against Nestor Cortes to serve as the difference in the game.

Jorge Mateo and James McCann both doubled to break a 1-1 tie before Colton Cowser and Gunnar Henderson hit back-to-back infield singles to make it 3-1.

Anthony Volpe and Gleyber Torres both made diving stops in the shallow outfield on the ground balls by Cowser and Henderson, but both batters used their speed to reach safely.

Adley Rutschmann then poked a flare to right field that fell in to make it 4-1.

The Orioles’ first run of the night came with a hand from the Yankees.

Anthony Santander led off the second inning with a high pop-up down the right-field line.

First baseman Rizzo ran a long way to track it down but it deflected off his glove for a double.

“I think I had a better shot than [Rizzo], I just didn’t call it, because when I was about to call it, I was too far and he probably wouldn’t hear me,” Soto said.

Jordan Westburg followed with a ground ball up the middle fielded by Torres, who threw to third base in an attempt to nab Santander.

But his throw hit off Santander’s back and trickled away, allowing him to score for the 1-0 lead.

“Don’t hate it,” Boone said. “You just got to make sure you see the open lane there.”

Wells continued to swing a hot bat, tying the game in the third inning with his first home run of the season before Soto trimmed the deficit to 4-2 in the sixth with a mammoth 447-foot shot to Eutaw Street.

The problem for the Yankees was that the little traffic they did have did not come before either home run.

“I think we’re swinging it well, really,” Wells said. “I think they’ve had a lot of bounces go their way. I think the only thing we can do is keep going out there the next day. We got two more, [can] even the series out. But overall, we’ve had good at-bats with good plans. They’ve just had a lot of good bounces go their way. We’ve hit hard balls right at guys, so I think it’ll sway.”