Masahiro Tanaka settles in but Yankees fall

NEW YORK – Masahiro Tanaka brought his right arm around and Jonathan Schoop brought his bat around in the righty box, and the ball went soaring into the cool Bronx night, sailing past the foul pole down the left-field line and into the second deck for a three-run homer in the second.

The $155 million import's debut at Yankee Stadium Wednesday began just like his Yankees debut in Toronto, with three runs allowed by the time two innings of work were complete. And just like in Toronto, he put up five zeroes from there.

Outside of the Schoop shot, Tanaka lived up to the advertising, striking out 10 Orioles over those seven innings, showing the tough stuff to work out of trouble. He gave up seven hits and one walk in taking a no-decision. But the Yankees took a 5-4 loss in the rubber game in front of 39,412 on Tanaka Night thanks to a two-run Baltimore ninth.

"I thought I was able to battle," Tanaka said through an interpreter. "But I put runners on and gave up a home run to the ninth batter. That I can't do."

Tanaka's 29-game regular-season winning streak remained in place. Last loss? It was back in Japan on Aug. 19, 2012, when the Seibu Lions beat him and the Rakuten Golden Eagles at the Seibu Dome.

He had vowed to fix whatever problems he had against the Blue Jays. But he didn't fix the problem of giving up runs early in the game, not that he can call it a trend just yet.

"Obviously, that's something I need to adjust, but it's hard to make an assessment after two games," said Tanaka said, who has 18 K's and one walk to show for his 14 innings so far.

No need to adjust that splitter. It bailed him out of traffic jams in the third and fifth.

"He made some pitches when he had to," Joe Girardi said. "I thought he threw the ball good."

But the Yankees dropped to 4-5 and Baltimore rose to 4-5 after Shawn Kelley came on to start the ninth with the score 3-3 and David Robertson on the DL. Ryan Flaherty opened with a double, Schoop singled and Nick Markakis punched a single into right-center for the lead. Chris Davis tacked on a sac fly that proved to be the difference maker.

"We've stepped up for the most part," Kelley said. "We're a better bullpen with Dave down there."

Alfonso Soriano opened the last of the ninth against Tommy Hunter with a double to right. Kelly Johnson singled him to third. And Brian Roberts brought Soriano home with a sac fly to right. But Yangervis Solarte hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end it.

"Closing out games against teams like the Yankees on the road is hard," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said.

Carlos Beltran cracked his first of three hits and his first homer as a Yankee, a shot to the second deck in right off Miguel Gonzalez in the second. Two outs later, Johnson homered to cut to the Yankees' problem to 3-2.

Then Beltran doubled to open the fourth. Soriano ultimately grounded out to tie the score. Jacoby Ellsbury left it tied in the eighth by fouling out with Brett Gardner on third and one out. And Brian McCann left Gardner there to end the inning.

"We were one hit away from winning the ballgame," Beltran said. "We battled."

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