BALTIMORE -- Corbin Burnes didn’t think it was a homer at first. It barely was.

With two outs in the fifth inning on Wednesday night, the Orioles’ ace faced Yankees third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera and gave up a hard-hit ball (an exit velocity of 103.3 mph, per Statcast) that had a low launch angle (21 degrees) before sailing down the right-field line.

The ball cleared the high out-of-town scoreboard and hit the foul pole -- and it got stuck in its webbing. A little bit of a lower launch angle, and it wouldn’t have gone out. It also wouldn’t have been a home run if it had traveled a few more feet to the right.

“I joked if the pole was maybe 325 [feet] vs. 318, it probably would have been a foul ball,” Burnes said. “But it’s the park we play in.”

Cabrera’s two-run homer was the only offense in Baltimore’s 2-0 loss to New York, a game that was well-pitched on both sides. It was the lone blemish for Burnes -- who struck out six over six quality innings -- while the potent O’s lineup got shut out for the first time this season.

According to Statcast, Cabrera’s home run would have gone out in only five MLB ballparks. If the contest had been played in one of the 25 others, there may have been a different result.

Instead, the Orioles (19-11) lost for the first time in six games against American League East opponents this year, and they’re again tied with the Yankees (20-12) atop the division.

“Just a really well-pitched game -- an unbelievably pitched game -- from both sides,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I thought we got pitched extremely tough, honestly.”

Baltimore’s rotation has been banged up for the first month-plus of 2024. Kyle Bradish (right UCL sprain) and John Means (left forearm strain) began the year on the injured list and will each make their season debut sometime later this week. Grayson Rodriguez (right shoulder inflammation) and Tyler Wells (right elbow inflammation) are now on the IL.

But Burnes has been a consistent presence atop the staff, just as the Orioles envisioned when they traded for the 29-year-old ace in a Feb. 1 deal with the Brewers. Through seven starts, he has a 2.61 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP, and Wednesday’s outing was close to his best, even though it came in a losing effort.

Burnes retired 14 of the first 16 Yankees batters, giving up only a pair of singles during that span. In the fifth, he yielded a two-out single to Jose Trevino, which was promptly followed by Cabrera’s game-deciding long ball.

While leaning on his prolific cutter even more often than usual -- throwing it for 55 of his 95 pitches -- Burnes turned in an outing he felt may have been his best since Opening Day, when he struck out 11 in six innings of one-hit, one-run ball vs. the Angels on March 28 in Baltimore.

“Honestly, the last three or four hadn’t been what we wanted, and tonight was definitely a step forward. I thought we commanded the ball pretty well outside of maybe two or three ABs,” Burnes said. “I think the cutter command was better. I didn’t spin the breaking ball quite as well as I have throughout the year, but made up for it with some other pitches. ...

“Overall, I was more pleased with how we threw the baseball tonight.”

On the other side, the Orioles couldn’t solve right-hander Luis Gil, who yielded only two hits (a pair of singles) and a walk while striking out five in 6 1/3 innings. They only got a runner past first base in the eighth (following Gil’s departure), and they stranded runners on first and second.

Gil relied on his four-seam fastball, throwing it for 59 of his 95 pitches. His heater averaged 95.8 mph and maxed out at 97.5.

“He uses his fastball a lot, and he used it a lot again tonight,” said Heston Kjerstad, who had one of Baltimore’s season-low-tying three hits. “He was just putting it in good spots, making good pitches, staying ahead in the count.”

Entering Wednesday, the Orioles were one of only three MLB teams that hadn’t been blanked this year, along with the Braves and Rays.

They’re no longer among that group. However, the O’s will have an opportunity to bounce back and finish their homestand by securing a series win vs. the rival Yanks on Thursday.

“We pitched well,” Hyde said, “and they pitched just a little bit better.”