BALTIMORE—Cedric Mullins hit a ninth-inning double, scoring two runs to cap a wild comeback as the Orioles snapped their five-game losing streak with a three-run ninth inning on Sunday at Camden Yards.
Pinch-hitter Kyle Stowers singled against Yankees closer Clay Holmes (2-3) to lead off the bottom of the ninth after Ben Rice’s three-run homer against Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel had given the Yankees a 5-3 lead in the top of the ninth. Colton Cowser swung at a 3-1 pitch and hit into a force play. Ryan O’Hearn, pinch-hitting for James McCann, walked, and Henderson was called out on strikes. Adley Rutschman, who ended the first half in a 1-for-18 slump, walked to load the bases.
Ryan Mountcastle grounded to short, but Anthony Volpe bobbled the ball for an error, allowing Cowser to score.
Mullins hit a slicing ball to left that Yankees leftfielder Alex Verdugo started to come in on and then fell down when he tried to go back on the ball. It went for a double, scoring O’Hearn and Rutschman and giving the Orioles a 6-5 win over the New York Yankees in the final game before the All-Star break.
The Orioles (58-38) go into the break with a one-game lead over the Yankees (58-40) in the American League East.
Rice’s three-run home run against Kimbrel (6-2) in the top of the inning appeared to be a game-winner for the Yankees before the Orioles battled back.
The Orioles led, 3-2, heading into the ninth, but Kimbrel walked Trent Grisham and Oswaldo Cabrera before Rice homered to left center, his sixth of the season.
Game-time temperature for the scheduled 11:35 a.m. start was 93 degrees, and Orioles trainer Mark Shires visited home plate umpire Emil Jimenez between innings to apply cold towels.
Gunnar Henderson, who’ll start Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas at shortstop, hit a two-run home run against Carlos Ródon in the third inning, his 28th.
Anthony Santander, who was added to the All-Star team as a reserve outfielder on Thursday, hit his 24th home run on to Eutaw Street in the fifth inning against Tommy Kahnle. It was Santander’s 11th Eutaw Street homer run, tying him with Chris Davis for most in ballpark history.
He tripled in the eighth, but pinch-runner Mullins was thrown out trying to score on Jordan Westburg’s grounder to third.
Grisham’s RBI single in the top of the second scored Volpe to put the Yankees on top, 1-0.
With runners on second and third and two outs, Volpe made a beautiful play on Cowser’s soft liner toward center to end the bottom of the second.
Grisham’s sixth home run against Oriole starter Dean Kremer tied it, 2-2, in the top of the fifth.
Kremer was removed after throwing 83 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. He allowed two runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out four.
Rodón allowed two runs on four hits in four innings, walking three and striking out seven.