Wrapping up injuries, illnesses and a 5-0 loss

NEW YORK - Center fielder Adam Jones left tonight's game in the bottom of the eighth inning with a back spasm, but he intends to play Thursday afternoon as the Orioles try to avoid a four-game sweep.

Jones didn't look comfortable running out a ground ball in the top of the eighth. He also winced and hesitated to make a throw after catching a fly ball from Brett Gardner that scored another Yankees run in their 5-0 win.

Jones had ice on the back of his left hand earlier in the day, but that must be maintenance. The guy plays hard and is banged up. But he said tonight that he's staying in the lineup.

"I'm glad I feel better," Jones said, unsure when the discomfort started.

He's playing Thursday?

"Oh yeah," Jones replied. "I've got nothing else to do."

"We'll see," said bench coach John Russell, who filled in for ailing manager Buck Showalter. "We'll see how he is in the morning. A day game. We'll see if it calms down. We'll just have to take a look at it.

"He said he felt good enough to finish the game and after a couple swings, we had (Julio) Borbon ready. That's Adam Jones. He hits a ground ball and runs his butt off to first base. We'll have to see how he is tomorrow and just take it day by day.

"I don't know exactly what inning, but I think he felt a little bit of spasm. Calmed down. I think as the game progressed, I don't know, dehydration. Just tightened up a little bit. Felt like he was good to go, but by the end of the night it got to a point where we felt like it was prudent to get him out."

Chris Davis took batting practice and will attempt to play on Thursday. Russell isn't sure about Manny Machado, who also is sick, and he labeled catcher Matt Wieters day-to-day with a sore right foot.

"We're going to have to take it a day at a time and see how these guys respond and come back from it," Russell said after the Orioles lost their fourth consecutive game and fell out of first place, a spot they've occupied since June 5.

"It's tough right now. We lost some key guys from our lineup and you lose that many at once, it makes it pretty tough. Hopefully, they'll start trickling back into the lineup sooner rather than later."

Showalter stayed at the team hotel, but apparently is feeling a little better.

"It's probably going to have to take a hurricane hitting New York for him to not be here tomorrow," Russell said. "From the rest of the guys, it hits them really hard for about 24 hours and after that you're just kind of weak, so I would assume Buck will be here tomorrow. He'll probably be a little tired, but hopefully he's getting some rest tonight. But the bulk of the sickness is usually the first 24 hours. I'd think he'd be all right."

Russell is no stranger to managing, of course. He didn't enjoy tonight's experience, given the circumstances and the loss.

"It wasn't much fun," he said. "You want to win. We presented opportunities to score some runs and we can't. I wouldn't say it's frustrating, but you feel for the guys because you know how much they want to do it. It's just going to take one or two guys to get going. We've seen it in the past. It happened a few weeks ago. We struggled a little bit offensively. Every team goes through it. We've got some good hitters in our lineup and they'll bounce back."

The Orioles had their chances against Michael Pineda, but suffered their fourth shutout loss of the season. They're 3-for-33 with runners in scoring position since the All-Star break.

Pineda kept throwing his slider and the Orioles kept catching air.

"I don't know if it's pressing," Russell said. "These guys have been there before. Buck and I talk about it and they've been there, they know. You go through times like this. It's a resilient bunch. He made some good pitches. He made some of those pitches, the backup slider version, which is one of the best pitches in baseball and he threw a few of those to us that got us a little bit.

"He made pitches when he had to and we didn't take advantage of some situations that we usually do. That's kind of the story of the game tonight. We take advantage early and I think it's a different outcome, but we didn't and until we start getting going again, we're going to have to find ways to manufacture a little bit. But I felt like we had the opportunities. We just didn't execute them."

The slider is a separator.

"It's a good pitch, man," Jones said. "It's just a good pitch, and back that up with 95-96 consistent. But let me tip my cap to my players. We put together some good at bats. We've created some situations. We made him throw just shy of 115 pitches in six innings. We made him work. We were unable to get anything across on him, but we made him work.

"We made him throw a few stress pitches. At the end of the day, it you keep creating the opportunities, one of these days they're going to come true and you know, I want to tip my cap to my players. Obviously, they won the game, but everyone in here, everyone wearing this Orioles jersey, no one quit. And also (Yovani) Gallardo threw one hell of a game. Obviously a few mistakes he wants back, but overall I think he threw a hell of a game. We strung together some good at bats, and it's just unfortunate that we weren't able to get a big hit when we needed it."

Gallardo completed seven innings for the first time since June 27, 2015 in Toronto. He was in line for the Orioles' first complete game since Miguel Gonzalez on Sept. 3, 2015, but he exited after 87 pitches.

"I thought he threw the ball very well," Russell said. "He was very efficient, he got some quick outs. He did what a veteran pitcher does. He gets you deep in the game with a chance to win. They had, what, six hits and a couple home runs, but it very easily could have gotten away from him, especially the one inning with the bases loaded and he gave up one run. That's what you look for out of a veteran guy like Yovani.

"We had a big opportunity (in the fourth) with the bases loaded and I think right there we had Pineda's pitch count up. He was starting to labor a little bit. I thought Joey (Rickard) had some great at-bats to really elevate that. We get a big pop right there and it could have been a different story. Right now we're not getting that and we've got to find a way to make it happen a little bit more. Push that one or maybe two runs across there and I think it's a different ballgame right there.

"You get deep in the game and the backend of their bullpen is tough. We had our opportunities early and right now we're not getting that hit."

Gallardo was denied a "quality start" on Gardner's sacrifice fly following Ronald Torreyes' one-out triple, but he was good enough to keep the Orioles in the game if the bats were awake.

The Orioles have scored 52 runs in their last 16 games, 10 in their last six and six in their last five.

"The pitching staff, I'd say the first six games since the break have been terrific," Jones said. "They've kept us in the game. It's just the offense. We haven't collectively swung it yet. We were really hot before the break. I think the break can sometimes mess up the rhythm a little bit, but I have more than enough confidence in the guys in there that we're going to turn it around."

Getting healthy would help.

"We're major league players. We figure out a way," Jones said. "There's injuries and illnesses and things like that on every team in baseball, so you just have to sack up and get after it."

Here are a few quotes from Gallardo after the Orioles fell to 53-40:

On his start:
"I felt good. I think I was just more aggressive in the zone. It's one of those stories where I was able to get out of jams when I had to. It's just start the game off with that curveball. It's tough right off the bat, you're down 1-0. I did a pretty good job, but (Carlos) Beltran is a veteran hitter with that sac fly.

"I felt good. All my pitches were working. I think one mistake that I'd like to take back was the one to (Mark) Teixeira. I tried to throw a cutter in to him and it came back over the plate."

On limiting the damage:
"Obviously, the walk and the bunt to Beltran. It's hard to bunt against the shift, and there's not much you can do about that in that situation. To Teixeira with the bases loaded, I don't want to give in. I don't want to give in and try to get him to swing at my pitch and it didn't work out. I ended up walking him. I was able to get Didi (Gregorius), make some pretty good pitches, and then to (Starlin) Castro for that double play.

"It's huge. Once you're in that situation, you can't really think about not allowing the run at third base to score because then I think you put yourself into trouble and try to overcome that. I pretty much stayed aggressive and I was able to give up that one."

On going seven innings:
"It feels great. I felt pretty good. I was getting some early contact with the pitches, which means I was throwing the ball over the plate. I think I made the adjustment compared to the last start in Tampa. It's definitely a positive sign, and keep doing it. Try to stay consistent with that, and go deep in the ballgames as much as I can."

On whether he tried too hard to be perfect with offense struggling:
"No, not really. For me, first of all, I've got to go out and do my job. I control the things that I've got to control. Guys are working hard. They're busting it. Hitting-wise, just one of those stretches. They're going to turn it around. That's why I have to go out there and keep the game as close as I can and give those guys an opportunity to come back and show what they've done throughout the year.

"It's a long year. It's going to happen throughout the year. It's going to happen. I think they'll bust out of it."