Villar hits for cycle in Orioles’ loss to Yankees; Hyde criticizes umpires; Fry gives up late homers

BALTIMORE—Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said that reliever Mychal Givens was going to face the New York Yankees big hitters, and he summoned him to start the seventh inning.

Givens rarely pitches the seventh, but with Aaron Judge batting second, Hyde decided he needed his most trusted reliever in the game.

Judge is 1-for-13 with 10 strikeouts against Givens, and although he walked, Didi Gregorius hit into a double play to end the inning.

In the eighth, Givens struck out Gleyber Torres, who entered the game with a .485 average and 10 home runs in 13 games against the Orioles this year. With left-handed rookie Mike Ford coming up, Hyde summoned left-hander Paul Fry.

A few moments later, Fry stood, hands on hips, watching Ford’s home run fly over the right-field wall. Another left-handed hitter, Mike Tauchman, added a two-run home run to give him his first two home run game as the Orioles lost to the New York Yankees, 9-6, on Monday night.

The loss came on a night Jonathan Villar hit for the first Orioles cycle in nearly 10 years and the Orioles rallied from a 6-1 deficit to tie the game at 6 on two-run homers by Villiar and Jace Peterson and a sacrifice fly by Chris Davis in the sixth.

Afterward, Hyde was still fuming about a call in the fourth inning that he called “pathetic.”

With two outs and the score tied at 1, the Orioles attempted a double steal. Chris Davis tried to steal second base and drew a throw from catcher Austin Romine. On Romine’s throw to second, Peterson, who was on third, broke for home. Gregorius cut off the throw to second and threw home.

Plate umpire Ed Hickox called Peterson out, even though the tag appeared to come after Peterson’s foot touched the plate. Hyde challenged the call, and it stood.

“I thought it was joke, to be honest with you,” Hyde said. “That was pathetic. I’m standing right on the line. It was clear as day to me and as well as the entire crowd on the replay in the stadium. I just thought it changed the whole momentum of the game at that point, and I thought it was absolutely pathetic.

“New York saw it differently, I guess. Somebody saw something differently. Still trying to wait to see what the angle is because I saw about seven and they’re not even close.”

Hyde might get fined for public criticism of the umpiring and the review process, but he wasn’t backing off.

“I’m hoping I get a letter,” Hyde said. “They say the same thing every time That they have more angles than you and they see things that you can’t. But I’m standing right there, and it was a really terrible decision.”

New York took the lead when they scored three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth on home runs by Brett Gardner and Tauchman.

Trailing 6-1 after 5 ½, the Orioles had a five-run inning to tie the score at 6.

Peterson hit his first home run since July 12, 2018, a two-run shot against Masahiro Tanaka. Hanser Alberto singled, and Chance Sisco doubled him to third. Davis’ long fly ball to center scored Alberto, and with two outs, Villar’s two-run home run allowed the Orioles to even it at 6.

When Villar came up in the ninth, he had tripled in the third, doubled in the fifth and homered, needing only a single for the cycle.

With one out, Villar slapped a single to short right field and became the first Oriole to hit for a cycle since Felix Pie on August 14, 2009 and the fifth overall. Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Aubrey Huff are the others.

Villar said he was unaware of the milestone until first base coach Arnie Beyeler pointed it out to him.

“I wasn’t paying attention to that,” Villar said. “Everybody wasn’t saying anything because when you say something, maybe you miss it and when I hit a base hit right there, the coach at first, he said, ‘Congratulations, you hit for the cycle.’ Right there, I knew I hit for the cycle.”

Villar made a terrific play on Gleyber Torres’ ground ball, starting a double play that ended the ninth inning.

“He had a great game,” Hyde said. “I thought obviously he did a ton of things offensively, really nice play for the double play. Just played a really nice baseball game. It shows you the tools that he has. He’s extremely exciting and when things are going well he’s a game-changer.

“But I just thought it was a really good baseball game. We played our hearts out. Their bullpen was just a little bit better than ours tonight. But  I loved our ABs against Tanaka. I loved the fight in our guys. I thought we were right there with them. We just gave up too many homers.”

Orioles pitchers get another record: The Orioles allowed five home runs. It was the 10^th consecutive game the Orioles had given up multiple home runs, a major league record in a season in which home run records are piling up. The Yankees have hit 32 home runs at Camden Yards this season, which is also a record for most homers hit in a visiting ballpark.

Last month, the Orioles became the first team to hit multiple home runs in 10 straight games.

They extended another record by giving up five or more home runs in their 15^th game.

Yacabonis to Norfolk: The Orioles optioned Jimmy Yacabonis to Triple-A Norfolk after the game. Yacabonis has a 1-2 record and 6.98 ERA. The move leaves the Orioles with 13 pitchers. They’ve been playing with just two bench players for the last three games and might add a position player.

Yankees woes: Since winning the last two games of the season-opening three-game series at Yankee Stadium, the Orioles have lost 11 straight game to New York. They’ve lost 13 straight to New York at Oriole Park.