The Yankees drop their third straight as they lose to the Orioles at home

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles by the score of 5-4 on Monday night. The game took place at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees and pitched ok and Eric Chavez led the Yankees offense. Mike Gonzalez pitched very well and then got into some trouble late and Nick Markakis led the Orioles offense. 
Garcia pitched six innings giving up nine hits and three runs with two strikeouts. He lost his fifth game of the season. Boone Logan pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and two runs with a walk and two strikeouts, David Phelps pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout and Clay Rapada gave up two hits without recording an out. Chad Qualls faced two batters and retired them both. Gonzalez won his third game of the season pitching 6 2/3 innings giving up six hits and four runs with no walks and eight strikeouts. Darren O’Day faced one batter and retired him, Strop pitched one inning giving up a hit and Jim Johnson saved his 31^st game of the season pitching an inning giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Nick Swisher had a hit and Raul Ibanez had two hits and an RBI. Chavez had two hits, two RBI and drew a walk, Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and an RBI and Swisher had a double. Ibanez, Chavez and Suzuki each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-4 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Suzuki had a stolen base, Stewart had a passed ball.

Markakis had three hits and two RBI, J.J. Hardy had two hits and an RBI and Chris Davis had a hit. Adam Jones had a hit, Matt Wieters had a hit and drew a walk and Wilson Betemit had two hits and an RBI. Mark Reynolds had two hits and Omar Quintanilla had a hit, an RBI and drew a walk. Jones, Markakis and Reynolds each had a double. Betemit hit a homerun. The Orioles were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base.

In the second Chavez hit an RBI single to make it 1-0 Yankees. The Orioles tied the game at one on a Betemit solo homerun in the second. In the fifth the Orioles took a 3-1 lead on a Quintanilla and Markakis sacrifice fly. Ibanez hit a solo homerun in the fifth which cut the lead to 3-2 Orioles. The Orioles increased their lead to 5-2 in the seventh. Markakis hit an RBI double and Hardy hit an RBI single. Chavez and Suzuki hit back-to-back homeruns in the seventh to make it a 5-4 game and that would be how it ended.

The Yankees have now lost three in a row and eight of their last 11 games. The eight losses in that frame had six of them come by two runs or less. The Yankees division lead is now 6 ½ over the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees record dropped to 60-42 and the Orioles record improved to 54-49. The two teams will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night.