Arrieta shuts down Yankees, O's send Nova to loss

NEW YORK – The Yankees couldn't help Ivan Nova preserve his winning streak this time.

Jake Arrieta was too tough.

Arrieta pitched eight innings of five-hit ball Wednesday night, and the Baltimore Orioles ended Nova's 15-game winning streak with a 5-0 victory over the Yankees.

"Man, he was really good," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said of Arrieta. "He had everything working."

Matt Wieters homered and hit an RBI double, Nick Markakis also connected and Baltimore earned a rare series win in New York.

The Yankees are 30-12 against Baltimore since the start of 2010 — including a three-game sweep in early April.

But they dropped two of three to the Orioles in the Bronx, only the fourth series of three or more games that New York has lost to Baltimore at Yankee Stadium in the last five years.

Alex Rodriguez went 2 for 4 Wednesday but the rest of the club went 3 for 27. No Yankees player touched second base. Baltimore held the Yankees to a .183 average (17 for 93) and three runs and three extra-base hits in the series.

"We're just not swinging the bats very well right now," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Yankees third baseman Eric Chavez left the game during his at-bat in the bottom of the fifth because of a whiplash injury and possible concussion. He was hurt in the top of the inning diving to try and stop J.J. Hardy's double down the line, one of the Orioles' six extra-base hits.

Chavez went to the hospital for tests and will not travel with the team to Kansas City late Wednesday.

"When he dove, when he came off the field, he said felt a little dizzy but he said he felt all right. ... Then when he was going through his at-bat he got dizzy," Girardi said.

With Brett Gardner on the disabled list and Nick Swisher ailing, the Yankees will probably have to make a move before Thursday's game.

Nova (3-1) was one win away from matching Roger Clemens' team record of 16 straight winning decisions. Since last June 10, Nova made 20 starts without a loss. The right-hander benefited this season from strong run support, though: In his last start he gave up six runs but the Yankees rallied for a 7-6 victory over Detroit.

I don't really think about it," Nova said of the streak. "I think I made a couple mistakes with my pitches. The situation. The count. Sometimes I get behind in the count too much."

Arrieta (2-2) set a career high for innings pitched, matched a best with nine strikeouts and never let a Yankees player reach second base.

"Tonight, it was fun to play behind him," Showalter said.

Jim Johnson pitched a perfect ninth in relief of Arrieta (2-2).

"I had a pretty good idea they were going to the pen. I take some glances at my pitch count," said Arrieta, who threw 111 pitches.

Nova matched Arrieta until allowing a homer to Wieters leading off the fourth. The Orioles added a run in the sixth by taking advantage of two walks and a wild pitch. Robert Andino, who had three hits and a walk, singled to deep short for a 2-0 lead. One of the walks was to Mark Reynolds, who came in batting .143 and has struck out in 19 straight games.

Markakis hit a long drive to right-center with one out in the seventh. Nova knew it was gone right away, smacking his right thigh in anger almost immediately after it left the bat.

Wieters then doubled in a run after Adam Jones was hit by a pitch, ending Nova's night after 6 1-3 innings. He allowed five runs on nine hits and four walks.

Nick Johnson had an RBI single in the seventh. Demoted starter Freddy Garcia pitched two scoreless innings for relief for New York.

NOTES: Orioles LHP Tsuyoshi Wada will have elbow-ligament reconstruction surgery. Wada has been sidelined since the last week of spring training. Los Angeles Angels team doctor Lewis Yocum will perform the surgery May 11. ... Yankees RHP David Phelps was putting on his dress suit while his teammates prepared for Wednesday's game. Phelps was flying to Kansas City in preparation for his first big league start Thursday. "It's going to be awesome," he said. "I have a lot of family there."