Yanks' streak ends in slop & 11th inning

In a game that began less than 11 hours after the last one ended and took 11 innings and 4:23 to complete, the Yankees saw their six-game winning streak end in a 5-4 loss to the Orioles Wednesday at soggy Yankee Stadium.

Mark Reynolds' two-out single off Hector Noesi (2-1) drove in the go-ahead run and was the Orioles' first hit with runners in scoring position in 13 tries. It was an unearned run because fill-in shortstop Eduardo Nuñez botched Matt Angle's one-out grounder for his second error of the day and the Yankees' fourth.

Angle stole second with two outs before the Yankees intentionally walked Nick Markakis to get to Reynolds, who was 0-for-5 with four strikeouts before lining the go-ahead single to left-center.

Nuñez nearly won the game with a potential home run that went foul in the ninth. He was playing because Joe Girardi trotted out a spring-training style lineup after Tuesday's 5-3 win, which began at 11:08 p.m. after a four-hour, three-minute rain delay and ended at 2:15 a.m.

Nick Swisher was the only Yankees regular from Tuesday to start. Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano didn't. Teixeira and Cano pinch hit in the sixth, while Granderson came on in centerfield in the seventh.

Jeter, who was available, according to Girardi, never got off the bench. His replacement did not perform with Jeter-esque sure-handedness.

"We gave them a lot of their runs today," Girardi said. "That's why we lost this game. We still had our opportunities to win. We didn't do it."

The Yankees did not score after tying it at 4 in the fourth on rookie Jesus Montero's two-run single off the right-centerfield wall. The game ended with runners on first and third when pinch hitter Eric Chavez lined into a 6-4 forceout.

The game was played in almost constant mist, with bursts of heavy rain. A fierce wind blew from left to right. Play was sloppy, with the teams making six errors and a pop-up falling behind the mound for a gift single for Baltimore's Robert Andino in the third inning, leading to two runs.

"It was disgusting," Alex Rodriguez said. "As sloppy as it gets. You expect that with those type of conditions. They just played a little bit better today."

A.J. Burnett went six-plus innings, giving up four runs and seven hits in a typically uneven performance. He walked four, struck out seven, threw three wild pitches and twice failed to cover first base correctly.

Burnett gave up two runs on Nolan Reimold's two-out home run to left in the third that gave the Orioles a 4-2 lead. Reimold would not have hit in the inning if Rodriguez or Nuñez had caught Andino's pop-up. A-Rod appeared to be under it, but as the ball blew toward the center of the diamond he yelled for Nuñez to take it. Nuñez raced in and missed the ball while sliding on the mound.

"If I had to do it all over again, I would have taken charge and made that play," Rodriguez said. "That ball has to be caught."

Rodriguez had a two-run double in the first for the Yankees, who left after the game for a four-city, 11-day, 10-game trip that begins with a makeup game at Camden Yards Thursday at 1:05 p.m.

The forecast for Baltimore Thursday is not promising, but Major League Baseball is committed to completing these games with the regular season's end three weeks away. Even if it's not pretty.

"I'm glad we got them in," Girardi said. "And we just move forward."