Yankees offense has no answers in series loss to Orioles

The most action the Yankees had around home plate Thursday was the few minutes Aaron Boone spent near there while battling for his third-inning ejection.

The rest of the night might as well have been a black hole for Boone’s hitters.

The Yankees had just three hits and narrowly avoided a shutout before scoring in the ninth inning, but still fell to Kyle Gibson and two Orioles relievers in a 3-1 loss at the Bronx.

With the offensive performance lifeless, the Yankees gave up the game rubber against division rival Orioles to slow some of the momentum they had returned from their solid road trip last week.

Gibson, the veteran right-hander who entered the night with a 6.75 ERA in 10 career starts against the Yankees, pitched seven shutout innings before moving to the bullpen.

The Yankees reached Yennier Cano in the ninth, when Aaron Judge walked and then scored on a two-out double from Willie Calhoun.

But the rally ended there, with Anthony Volpe flying out to end the game.

After giving up a first single to Gleyber Torres in the first inning, Gibson struck out 17 of the next 21 batters — the only four batters who reached him on steps — until Calhoun picked to lead the seventh.

Going into the ninth inning, Harrison Bader was the only Yankee to reach second base, with two outs in the fourth inning.

Clarke Schmidt, in his first start since a sticky scare last Friday in Cincinnati, had a solid outing, giving up just one run in five innings on a season-high 97 pitches.

Limiting an Orioles lineup that had come to Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes in the first two games of the series, Schmidt has now given up two runs or less in four of his last five starts.

The Orioles then added a pair of runs in the eighth inning against Wandy Peralta and Clay Holmes.

Peralta walked two batters before Holmes entered and gave a double off the top of the right field wall to Austin Hays that made Baltimore 3-0.

Schmidt loaded the bases in the top of the first inning after getting two quick outs.

Volpe misplayed a ground ball in the middle and Schmidt walked the next two batters before breaking away without allowing a run, despite needing 29 pitches to do so.

In the third inning, Schmidt flirted with trouble again when he allowed a pair of two-out singles before calling on Gunnar Henderson to line up and end the threat.

Between innings, plate umpire Edwin Moscoso ejected Boone for arguing about his strike zone from the dugout.

Boone then jumped in for his money’s worth, warming up with Moscoso and appearing to tell him he’d called four balls that should have been strikes.

The Yankees manager was physically restrained by team manager Chris Guccione and bench coach Carlos Mendoza several times before finally walking off the field.

The Orioles took the lead in Schmidt’s fifth inning.

Adam Frazier drove a double low down the left field line, then with two outs, Anthony Santander led it with a hard single past an Anthony Rizzo dive for the 1-0 lead.