Yankees 0, Orioles 1: Masahiro Tanaka pitches eight shutout innings, Yankees lose anyway

Masahiro Tanaka pitched eight shutout innings. He allowed just five hits and a walk. He struck out seven batters. All that still meant nothing because the Yankees lost anyway. After last night's seven-run effort, the Yankees' offense resumed struggling. They were shut out by Kevin Gausman and the Orioles' bullpen, losing 1-0 to Baltimore in the series finale.

The game was a pitcher's duel from the very beginning. The game's first runner didn't come until Matt Wieters singled in the bottom of the second, but that didn't lead to anything.

The Yankees' best chance at scoring early came in the fourth. Starlin Castro led off the inning with a double. He tagged up and moved to third when Brian McCann popped one up for the first out of the inning. Neither Mark Teixeira nor Carlos Beltran could bring him home and the chance was squandered.

After the top of the fourth, Joe Girardi was ejected for arguing what he believed should have been a balk called on Gausman. With a runner on third, it would have scored a run. However, it wasn't called, Girardi was ejected, and the game remained scoreless.

Girardi's ejection was easily the most interesting thing that happened for a majority of the game. For as little as the Yankees were doing as Gausman, the Orioles were doing about the same against Tanaka. After the eighth inning, Tanaka's day would be over. He went eight innings, allowing just five hits and a walk while striking out seven.

The Yankees missed another chance in the ninth inning. Castro picked up a two-out single. and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. However a few pitches later, Castro strayed too far off second and was picked off by Wieters to end the inning.

Dellin Betances was brought in to pitch the ninth inning. After getting the first out of the inning, Betances walked Mark Trumbo, brining Wieters to the plate. Wieters hit one pretty deep to right. Dustin Ackley made a leaping catch right at the wall, and then doubled off pinch-runner Joey Rickard to end the inning. The Orioles challenged the play, thinking the ball might have bounced off the wall into Ackley's glove. However, Ackley made the catch clean, and the game went to extra innings.

The Yankees put a runner in scoring position in the tenth, but again couldn't bring him home. Rob Thomson then opted to bring in Johnny Barbato. Hyun Soo Kim led off the inning with an infield single. He then moved to third when Jonathan Schoop singled. With the winning run 90 feet away, the Yankees went back to the bullpen and brought in Andrew Miller. Miller got Pedro Alvarez to fly out, but it was deep enough to score the run. The Yankees wasted an excellent outing by Tanaka and returned to their losing ways.

The Yankees will now head home to take on the Red Sox in a series starting tomorrow. Michael Pineda and Rick Porcello will be the starting pitchers. It probably can't be worse than the last Red Sox series. Right? Maybe?

Box score.