Ben Rice homered and George Lombard Jr. drove in the go-ahead run as the New York Yankees pulled out a 5-3 victory against the host Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.
The Yankees scored twice in the eighth to break a tie. They beat the Orioles for the second night in a row and won their third straight game.
Rice, who smacked his 34th home run, and Lombard each finished with two hits. After the Yankees grabbed the lead in the eighth on Lombard’s two-out infield single, they tacked on an insurance run when Jazz Chisholm Jr. made it home on Yennier Cano’s wild pitch.
Pete Alonso and Dylan Beavers homered for the Orioles. Leody Taveras added two hits.
Brent Headrick (7-2) earned the win after working a scoreless seventh inning. David Bednar, the sixth New York pitcher of the night, worked the ninth and recorded a save for the second night in a row, pushing his season total to 29.
Yankees starter Will Warren lasted four innings and allowed two runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out five.
Orioles starter Chris Bassitt gave up three runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out six.
Cam Sanders (1-1) took the loss without allowing a hit in two-thirds of an inning, but he was hurt by a walk and two hit batters.
The Orioles scored in the first inning, with Jackson Holliday crossing the plate on a double steal.
New York went ahead in the second, with Ryan McMahon’s single driving in the tying run and Lombard Jr. following with a sacrifice fly.
Rice’s third-inning homer stretched the lead to 3-1. Rice has been slumping this month with a batting average below .100, but this marked his second long ball in a three-game stretch, though only his seventh hit in his last 54 at-bats.
Alonso’s 29th homer in the bottom of the third tightened the score. Beavers tied it with a two-out solo shot in the sixth off Fernando Cruz.
Eight of nine Yankees starters had at least one hit by the seventh inning.
