NEW YORK -- Gleyber Torres rose slowly from the chalky dirt, having landed a few feet shy of returning to the safety of third base. The momentum created by a few timely swings had vanished, leaving the Yankees¡¯ infielder to ponder how quickly a situation could shift.

Representing the tying run, Torres was tagged out in a key rundown play during the seventh inning on Tuesday evening, short-circuiting a budding rally. A Colton Cowser homer soon tilted the score back in the Orioles¡¯ favor, sending the Yankees to a 5-3 loss at Yankee Stadium.

¡°When it comes down to it, stuff like that can¡¯t happen,¡± said Yankees captain Aaron Judge. ¡°We can¡¯t keep shooting ourselves in the foot with mistakes like that on the basepaths. But it happened, and we¡¯ve got to move on and get ready for tomorrow.¡±

The Yankees had been limited to Judge¡¯s Major League-leading 56th home run through six innings, with Dean Kremer working five of those frames.

Anthony Rizzo touched Cionel P¨¦rez for a one-out ground-rule double, and Alex Verdugo legged out a two-out infield single that prompted Baltimore to call upon Yennier Cano.

Torres greeted the right-hander with his third hit of the game, a ground-rule double that hopped the right-field fence and brought home Rizzo to cut the deficit to 4-2.

Four pitches later, Soto ripped a hard single to right field that brought in Verdugo. That was where the trouble began.

Anthony Santander came up firing from right field, delivering a one-hop throw to home plate. Third-base coach Luis Rojas had held Torres, but Soto was digging for second base as Santander¡¯s throw traveled in.

That prompted Torres to break for home.

¡°It was a big play,¡± Torres said. ¡°I just tried to protect Soto, but I feel like I have to be a little more aggressive. If I¡¯m going to make that decision, go straight for the run. I think that¡¯s going to be my mistake.¡±

Catcher Adley Rutschman fired to second base, where shortstop Gunnar Henderson snapped a throw back to the plate. Torres halted halfway down the baseline, soon to be tagged out in a 9-2-6-2-5-2-6 pickle.

¡°I think he thought Soto was going to be out,¡± manager Aaron Boone said. ¡°But you¡¯ve got to commit. Once Rutschman squares [to throw], either you¡¯re going to sell out to go or bluff him and pull off. He got caught in between.¡±

It was the sixth out that Torres has made at home plate this season, which ties the Rays¡¯ Yandy D¨ªaz for the most in the Majors.

¡°A handful of those are two-out, bang-bang plays on aggressive sends,¡± Boone said. ¡°It¡¯s important to have context with that. He does make some mistakes on the bases. He¡¯s cleaned it up a lot from last year and the year before, where he was getting himself in trouble a lot.

¡°He¡¯s toned down some of the aggressiveness. But I also think tonight is a case of protecting a runner, too.¡±

The play ended the inning with Judge due up, though Baltimore likely would have intentionally walked Judge with first base open had all the runners been safe.

¡°It might have been just a little miscommunication,¡± Judge said. ¡°He was hustling the whole way. I think he wanted to score and he got the stop sign. It¡¯s just kind of no-man¡¯s-land right there.¡±