BALTIMORE — A rough road trip mercifully came to an end on Wednesday afternoon, which turned into a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day for the Yankees.
After Max Fried lasted just three innings, exiting early with what the team said was left elbow posterior soreness that will require imaging on Thursday, the Yankees got one-hit in a 7-0 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards.
The clunker finished off a 1-5 trip against the Brewers and Orioles (20-24), as the Yankees (27-17) had another quiet day with the bats, getting suffocated by right-hander Kyle Bradish and three relievers.
The biggest concern was the health of Fried, who gave up three runs over three innings before Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough followed in relief and allowed the Orioles to break the game open.
But the offense offered no help, which was the case for most of the trip, scoring 14 runs in six games — two of them shutouts — and six runs coming in Tuesday’s win.
The Yankees did not have a hit off Bradish until Jazz Chisholm Jr. roped a one-out double in the fifth inning — snapping a stretch of 12 straight batters retired after Trent Grisham led off the game with a walk.
Spencer Jones later worked a walk, which along with a wild pitch, put runners on the corners with two outs for Anthony Volpe. But the shortstop was not able to come through in his season debut, working a full count before striking out on a curveball to end the threat.
Volpe, keeping the seat warm for the injured José Caballero, had a rough first game back, going 0-for-3 with a fielding error in the eighth inning on a ball to his left that he got to but then bobbled.
The Orioles got to Fried for a run in the second inning on Coby Mayo’s RBI double before adding two more in the third. Typically a terrific fielder, Fried committed a throwing error on a bunt single, which eventually gave way to the Orioles making it 3-0 on a sacrifice fly and Pete Alonso’s RBI single.
Blackburn served up a two-run home run to Adley Rutschman in the fifth inning, with the ball tipping off the glove of a leaping Jones at the wall in right-center field.
After Blackburn walked the leadoff man in the sixth, Yarbrough — pitching for the first time in a week — entered and, after a strikeout, gave up three straight singles as the Orioles built a 7-0 lead.