Vernon Wells doubled in the tiebreaking run in the 10th inning and the New York Yankees hit four solo homers in a 6-4 victory over the Orioles on Monday night, extending Baltimore's losing streak to six games.
New York trailed 4-3 in the ninth before Travis Hafner homered with one out on a 3-1 pitch from Jim Johnson, who has blown three straight save opportunities after converting a franchise-record 35 in a row. All three of those botched saves have come during Baltimore's current skid.
Hafner added an RBI single in the 10th inning for the Yankees, who have won 10 of 13 to move a season-high 12 games over .500 (28-16). The Yankees also improved to 19-0 when scoring first this season.
Robinson Cano hit his team-high 13th home run in the first inning for New York, David Adams clubbed his first major-league homer in the second and Lyle Overbay connected in the seventh.
In the 10th, Ichiro Suzuki led off with a double off Pedro Strop (0-2) and Wells followed with an RBI double to left. Hafner's two-out single made it 6-4.
David Robertson (3-0) worked the ninth and Mariano Rivera got three straight outs for his 17th save in 17 tries.
After Overbay put New York up 3-2 in the seventh with a homer off Troy Patton, Baltimore took the lead against Yankees starter CC Sabathia in the bottom half. Alexi Casilla singled and scored on a double by Nick Markakis, who came home on an opposite-field double to right by J.J. Hardy.
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Orioles manager Buck Showalter elevated Hardy to the third spot in the lineup because the shortstop came in with a .321 career batting average against Sabathia. Hardy also doubled in the fifth against the big left-hander.
Sabathia gave up four runs and 11 hits in 6 1-3 innings for the Yankees. He left with New York trailing 4-3, but Hafner's shot in the ninth preserved Sabathia's 17-4 lifetime record against Baltimore.
Orioles starter Freddy Garcia, who pitched the past two years for the Yankees, allowed two runs, three hits — two homers and a meaningless single — in six innings. Aided by two double plays, the right-hander faced only three batters over the minimum.
After Cano and Adams provided the Yankees with a 2-0 lead, Chris Davis hit his 13th homer for Baltimore in the second to make it 2-1.
Garcia retired eight straight batters before Adams singled in the fifth. He was erased by a double play.
After wasting a two-out double by Matt Wieters in the fourth, Baltimore pulled even in the fifth. Steve Pearce hit a leadoff double and scored on a single by Markakis. Later in the inning, Sabathia retired Adam Jones on a grounder with runners at second and third.
Replays indicated first base umpire Eric Cooper got two calls wrong in the sixth inning, both of which went against Baltimore. Brett Gardner appeared to be picked off first base and was called safe, and Wieters seemed to beat out an infield hit but was called out.
