MLB

Yankees’ bats turn silent as O’s seize momentum

TAKE A WHIFF! Alex Rodriguez — him, again — strikes out to seal the Yankees’ series-tying 3-2 Game 2 loss last night in Baltimore as Orioles catcher Matt Wieters pumps his fist in celebration. (Reuters)

BALTIMORE — They should have scored more than one run in the first. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, they didn’t score. Two hits and an intentional walk didn’t produce a run in the seventh.

Does this sound like the soundtrack of the Yankees when they don’t win?

Of course it does, and the lack of clutch hitting cost the AL East champs last night in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Orioles at Camden Yards, where the Orioles evened the best-of-five series with a 3-2 victory that was witnessed by 48,187 chilled and stirred customers.

“Missed opportunities, but give them credit — they made pitches,’’ Mark Teixeira said of the Orioles’ hurlers, who held the Yankees to 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10 runners.

BOX SCORE

Game 3 is scheduled for tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium, where the remainder of the ALDS will be played. Hiroki Kuroda opposes Miguel Gonzalez.

According to Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees might have boarded a train home early this morning ahead, 2-0, had his scorching liner with runners on first and second and no outs in the first inning not been fielded by second baseman Robert Andino and turned into a double play.

“A lot of momentum changed, he got confidence and pitched well,’’ Rodriguez said of Wei-Yin Chen, who gave up an RBI double to Robinson Cano that scored an unearned run in the first and a RBI single to Derek Jeter in the seventh. “It’s a big momentum change if the ball goes through.’’

So after splitting 18 regular-season games and the first two of the ALDS, the AL East foes have three tilts to decide who advances to the ALCS.

And the Orioles still don’t believe they are playing the role of underdog.

“We don’t see ourselves as underdogs at all,’’ said Mark Reynolds, who delivered an RBI single in the sixth against Andy Pettitte. “We see ourselves as two equal teams battling it out.’’

Pettitte battled it all the way to the eighth inning when he was replaced by David Robertson after Chris Davis led off with single. In seven-plus frames, Pettitte gave up three runs and seven hits.

“He kept us in the game, I thought he pitched extremely well,’’ Jeter said of Pettitte, who had to get extra outs when Jeter committed a throwing error in the fourth and Teixeira a fielding miscue in the fifth.

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh, Eduardo Nunez made second on a blooper to right leading off and scored on Jeter’s single. Ichiro Suzuki, who scored the game’s initial run in the first inning with a acrobatic slide at the plate, forced Jeter and stole second as Rodriguez was whiffing on a 3-2 slider from Darren O’Day.

Then Buck Showalter summoned lefty Brian Matusz to face Robinson Cano and employed the unusual strategy of intentionally walking a left-handed hitter with a lefty reliever to face a switch-hitter (Nick Swisher) on deck. Swisher pushed the count to 3-2 and lofted a stress-free fly ball to left that stranded two.

“I struggle against Matusz,’’ said Swisher, who is 1-for-20 lifetime against him including the fly out and a strikeout in Game 1. “The numbers speak for themselves.’’

Jim Johnson, who gave up five runs in the ninth inning of Game 1, worked a perfect ninth and fanned Rodriguez to end it.

The new format where the lower-seeded team hosts the first two ALDS games and the higher seed gets the final three would seem to help the Yankees. However, their inability to hit with runners in scoring position has been a season-long problem, and now they are two wins away from advancing or two defeats from going home.

“I believe these guys are going to come through,’’ Joe Girardi said. “I believe they are going to have good at-bats. They are going to keep putting runners on and they are going to break through.’’

At this point there is nothing else the manager can do but believe. But is it blind faith?

“I don’t want to say it’s frustrating, but you want to get the job done,’’ Cano said. “We are going home and we have to be ready for [tomorrow].’’

george.king@nypost.com