BALTIMORE — Shawn Kelley wasn’t aware how far behind the Yankees had fallen in the race for the AL East title.
“Looking at the second wild-card spot,’’ Kelley said following a 5-3 loss to the first-place Orioles on Wednesday night in front of 37,587 at Camden Yards, in which he gave up a game-winning three-run homer to Adam Jones in the eighth inning. “That seems more achievable at this point.’’
The Yankees’ fourth straight defeat dropped them eight lengths behind the O’s with 43 games remaining. Though the East is almost out of sight, the second wild card is slipping away, too.
Detroit, which started Wednesday night’s action tied with Seattle for the final playoff spot, beat the Pirates and are 3 ½ games ahead of the Yankees.
Asked if the East was out of reach, Kelley refused to give in.
“Not to me, and I don’t think anybody else in the locker room would say it’s out of reach right now,’’ Kelley said.
For the second straight game against the Orioles, the hitting-challenged Yankees spit out an early two-run lead. Francisco Cervelli staked Michael Pineda to a 2-0 lead in the third with a two-run homer off Chris Tillman.
In his first start since April 23 due to suspension and a back muscle injury, Pineda gave a run back in the fifth, his final inning. In his third frame, Dellin Betances surrendered a one-out homer to Jonathan Schoop in the eighth that tied it and Kelley put the Yankees in a three-run ditch.
“I am very happy, I pitched a pretty good game,’’ said Pineda, who gave up a run, two hits, didn’t issue a walk and fanned four. “It was the first start in a long time and made me happy.’’
He was likely the only happy person in the Yankees’ universe.
Betances was irked at himself for hanging a slider, Kelley blamed himself for the loss and Francisco Cervelli said Schoop’s homer was his fault because he should have called for something other than a slider.
“It was a slider that didn’t do much,’’ said Betances, who worked more than two innings for the second time this season. On May 15 against the Mets he worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings and fanned six.
Even though Joe Girardi was ejected in the seventh inning by plate umpire Gerry Davis for arguing a base-running interference call on Stephen Drew, he managed the game from wherever it was he went. So, instead of bringing David Robertson in for the eighth with a lead, Girardi let Betances stay on the hill.
“His pitch count wasn’t that high,’’ Girardi said of Betances, who threw 26 total pitches in the sixth and seventh innings. “He was still throwing the ball well. Unfortunately, it was a breaking ball and [Schoop] hit it out.’’
Girardi said the plan was for Betances to retire Schoop and bring Robertson in for a four-out save.
The home-run balls served by Betances and Kelley drew a lot of attention, but the Yankees’ lineup continued to act like it’s allergic to touching home plate. During the four-game slide the Yankees have scored seven runs.
One came in the ninth when Chase Headley’s ground out scored Mark Teixeira from third to make it 5-3. But Zach Britton induced Drew, the potential tying run, to ground out and send the Yankees to Tampa Bay with a four-game losing streak that likely severed the last string of hope they had to overtake the Orioles.