BALTIMORE — A long road trip ended on a short and sour note Sunday night for the Yankees.
The finale of a three-city trip that started in Minneapolis, moved to Cleveland and ended at Camden Yards finished with a 3-1 rain-shortened loss to the Orioles in front of 34,483.
The game was called following a two-hour and 22-minute delay.
So, the Yankees left for the All-Star break having posted a 6-5 ledger on a trip that will be remembered for staff ace Masahiro Tanaka being diagnosed with a small tear of the right ulnar collateral ligament. It’s an injury that could shelve Tanaka for six weeks or result in Tommy John surgery if a rehab program doesn’t work.
Also, the possibility that CC Sabathia might require micro fracture surgery on the right knee surfaced while the Yankees were away from home.
The Yankees enter the four-day break 47-47 and five games back of the AL East-leading Orioles, who hold a four-game bulge over the second-place Blue Jays.
“Whenever you have a winning trip on the road it’s pretty decent, but it could have been a really, really good trip,’’ said Joe Girardi, who would like to see the rule changed so that the clubs could have picked up the game at a later date since the Yankees have two more trips to Camden Yards.
“It’s extremely disappointing,’’ Girardi said. “I would like to come back and finish it.’’
By the time the Yankees checked out of the clubhouse the rain had stopped, but that meant nothing.
Chase Whitley, who took Tanaka’s start, absorbed the loss and is 4-3. Kevin Gausman improved to 4-2.
Brett Gardner homered for the Yankees and Chris Davis for the Orioles.
The rain started in the fifth inning with one out and was accompanied by lightning bolts that forced fans to leave the lower bowl of seats.
Girardi wasn’t shy about his desire to win the final game before the All-Star break and finish an 11-game road trip with a 7-4 record.
“We have a chance to have a really good road trip, and we will do everything to win this game,’’ Girardi said before the game.
That meant Whitley was on a short rope and after giving up three runs in the fourth, the right-hander vanished.
Whitley worked out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the second by getting Jonathan Schoop on a fly to center. When Whitley retired Nick Markakis, Steve Pearce and Adam Jones in the third, it appeared he was back on track.
That wasn’t the case. He walked Nelson Cruz to start the fourth and gave up an opposite-field home run to Chris Davis that erased a 1-0 Yankees lead.
“It didn’t look like a bad pitch to Davis. He is so strong he muscled the ball out of the ballpark,’’ Girardi said. “I thought he pitched OK.’’
When J.J. Hardy doubled, pitching coach Larry Rothschild trucked to the mound for the second time in three innings. Manny Machado hit a bullet at third baseman Yangervis Solarte for the first out and Caleb Joseph tapped to Whitley. That brought the No. 9 hitter, Schoop, to the plate, and he delivered an RBI single to right center.
Enter lefty David Huff to face the left-handed hitting Markakis. Huff, who didn’t retire any of the previous four batters he faced (three walks, a single), induced Markakis to bounce back to the mound.
In Whitley’s last four starts he has worked 15 innings, given up 32 hits and sports an obese 12.00 ERA.
Gardner greeted Gausman, the Orioles starter, with a homer to right in the first inning. However, through five frames the Yankees didn’t bat with a runner in scoring position.
Mark Teixeira made the mistake of testing Markakis’ strong and accurate arm in the first when he attempted to stretch a single into a double and was out by a wide margin. Brian McCann opened the second with a pop up to short left field that fell in but never advanced past first. Derek Jeter rifled a two-out single to center but that didn’t lead to anything.