BALTIMORE -- The bases remained loaded as Giancarlo Stanton whipped his bat in the ninth inning on Thursday, catching a 100 mph fastball and sending a line drive toward center field. The way things have been rolling for the Yankees, another big knock would have surprised no one.

Yet unlike DJ LeMahieu’s game-tying hit, this ball hung in the air, long enough for Cedric Mullins to secure the final out of the frame. There would be a late comeback but no victory, as Anthony Santander clipped Lucas Luetge with a walk-off three-run homer, handing the Yankees a 9-6 defeat at Camden Yards.

“I just needed it in the gap a little bit; [it went] kind of straight to him,” Stanton said. “I think we’re in a good spot. We can always get better; capitalize on games like this where you can come back. That’s baseball. I think we’ll be OK. We’re just going to keep pressing forward.”

The Yankees (28-10) became the last team in the Majors to reach double digits in losses, concluding a trip that saw them take six out of eight games against the White Sox and Orioles. The club has been so comfortable on the road, manager Aaron Boone momentarily forgot about their next destination.

“Oh, it’s over -- yeah,” Boone said. “Eight games, 6-2, pretty good. We would have obviously loved to finish it off today and head home, but any time you go out on the road and throw 6-2 up there, you’ll take that. That’s over with now, and it’s on to another important series tomorrow night.”

New York had been a perfect 18-0 when scoring five runs or more this season. Stanton put New York on the board with a two-run single that rocketed off the left-field wall in the first inning, then cleared the structure in the third for his 11th homer, collecting his AL-best 35th RBI.

Stanton is the first visiting player to homer over Camden Yards’ new left-field wall, which was pushed back 26 1/2 feet into the seating area and raised to 13 feet. The new configuration took at least two homers away from Stanton during this four-game series, while costing Aaron Judge one on Tuesday.

“You’ve got to crush it pretty good to get it out there, but they’ve hit a few,” Stanton said of the Orioles.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s two-run single put New York up by two runs in the sixth inning, but the bullpen was unable to hold the lead, as Baltimore batted around for three runs against Miguel Castro, Chad Green and Jonathan Loáisiga.

“We had it right to the end,” Stanton said. “We were there with an opportunity to win. I’m OK with it.”

Backing Montgomery
Compared to the support he received earlier this season, five runs probably felt like a windfall for Jordan Montgomery, who held the O’s to three runs on seven hits over five innings.

Six of the Yanks’ 10 losses have come in games started by Montgomery; little fault of the lefty’s, though, since New York has averaged 2.16 runs in those six games.

“We still won six of eight, so it was a pretty good trip,” Montgomery said. “Just get back after it tomorrow.”

Montgomery said he’d like one pitch back: a misplaced fastball that Robinson Chirinos slugged for a two-run homer in the second inning. Montgomery had thrown only 76 pitches when Boone took the ball.

“I felt like once he got through that fifth there, we were pretty set up [with the bullpen],” Boone said. “Certainly, there was a little temptation to send him back out there, and I certainly could have, but I felt pretty convicted that was the time.”

Rizzo’s frustration
Anthony Rizzo was ejected in the eighth inning by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez for arguing balls and strikes. In his at-bat that inning, Rizzo took two low pitches that Gonzalez called strikes; Gonzalez also heard feedback from the Orioles’ bench during Thursday’s game.

Rizzo struck out swinging in that at-bat. When a similar pitch was ruled a ball to Stanton, Rizzo called out (as picked up by the television broadcast): “Same pitch! Same pitch!” Gonzalez tossed Rizzo, who protested on the field alongside Boone before gathering his equipment and departing.

“If that warrants an ejection, then you’d better keep your mouth shut in this league, because we should be getting ejected left and right,” Rizzo said.

Concern for Green
Chad Green will undergo an MRI on Friday in New York after the right-hander experienced forearm discomfort in his pitching arm, prompting his sixth-inning exit. Green snapped a 1-2 curveball to Austin Hays, then gestured to catcher Kyle Higashioka, who summoned athletic trainer Tim Lentych to the mound.

“It was kind of the [earlier] pickoff throw, to be honest,” Green said. “I was like, ‘Ah, that didn’t feel great.’ I kind of had a little self-talk with myself and decided that it was probably best not to move forward.”