NEW YORK—A night after the Orioles clinched a postseason berth, they again prevented the New York Yankees from claiming the American League East title.
But it got a little tense in the ninth.
The Orioles had 17 hits—14 singles—on their way to a 9-7 win over the Yankees before 41,010 at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night. It was a seemingly comfortable 9-3 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, but reliever Matt Bowman allowed four runs, three on Aaron Judge’s 57th home run, before Keegan Akin recorded the final two outs for the save.
The Orioles’ magic number for securing home-field advantage in next week’s wild-card series is one. Another Orioles win or a Detroit Tigers loss will ensure they play at Camden Yards, beginning next Tuesday.
The Tigers beat the Tampa Bay Rays 7-1.
The Orioles still are four games behind the Yankees, (92-66) who’ll try to win the AL East again on Thursday night.
The Orioles (88-70) began the game with six straight singles for the first time in franchise history, and took a 3-0 lead. Colton Cowser drove in two runs and Ryan Mountcastle the other. Anthony Santander, who had the third single, was tagged out at third on Cowser’s single to prevent more runs from scoring.
All the hits came against Marcus Stroman, who filled in for Nestor Cortes. Cortes was diagnosed with a flexor tendon injury earlier in the day.
Zach Eflin, who walked six batters in his first eight Orioles starts, equaled his career high by the second inning, when he walked his fourth batter, Anthony Rizzo. Anthony Volpe’s single scored Giancarlo Stanton to cut the lead to 3-1.
Gunnar Henderson’s two-run single scored Ramón Urías and Cedric Mullins, who had both singled in the fourth for a 5-1 lead. Clayton Beeter relieved Stroman and allowed consecutive RBI doubles to Santander and Cowser to put the Orioles up 7-1.
Stroman (10-9) allowed six runs on 10 singles in 3 1/3 innings.
James McCann’s RBI single scored Mullins, who had his second stolen base of the game in the fifth to pad the lead to 8-1.
Soto’s two-run home run, his 41st, cut the lead to 8-3. After Judge singled and Eflin issued his career-high fifth walk, Jacob Webb replaced him.
Eflin allowed three runs on four hits along with the five walks and a strikeout in 4 2/3 innings.
Webb (2-5) allowed two hits in a scoreless 1 1/3 innings. Danny Coulombe retired three batters in the seventh. Gregory Soto threw a spotless eighth before Bowman allowed four runs.
Jordan Westburg’s RBI single in the eighth made it 9-3.