McCarthy's Struggles Doom Yankees in 5-4 Loss to Orioles

Brandon McCarthy surrendered five earned runs in 5 1/3 innings and three different opponents hit home runs tonight as the Yankees' last spark of playoff hope died with a 5-4 loss to the Orioles.

Going into this one's top of the second, after Ubaldo Jimenez (5+ IP, 2 ER) recorded a walk and an HBP in New York's first at-bat of the evening, things were looking alright for McCarthy and the Yanks, who came into the day with a bit of momentum following yesterday's blowout.

Nonetheless, once ex-Pinstripe Kelly Johnson homered to begin that frame and Nick Markakis contributed a two-out RBI Single it was clear McCarthy wasn't in for his best performance. Indeed, from then on things only got worse for the veteran right-hander, who would also got taken deep for a two-run shot by Markakis in the fourth and by Nelson Cruz for a solo one in the fifth.

Fortunetaly, a Chris Young groundout, a Stephen Drew sac fly, and a Brian McCann two-run homer with Derek Jeter on between innings 4-8 would still keep the hosts from getting shut out on the night, but since the Royals simultaneously blew out the Indians over in Cleveland and Zach Britton was able to pitch a scoreless ninth their doing so didn't really prove relevant. Granted, the Yankees aren't yet mathematically eliminated, but considering it'd take a perfect last five days for them along with a nightmarish last five ones for Kansas City it's definitely likely that their season will end Sunday, an unfortunate fact that also means this is probably Jeter's last home series.