Orioles stay in first place thanks to Yankees' miscues, beat New York 6-5 on Mullins' double in 9th

BALTIMORE (AP) — Cedric Mullins hit a two-run double in the ninth inning to give Baltimore a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees on Sunday, and the Orioles remained in first place after taking advantage of two defensive misplays at the end.

Anthony Volpe's error kept Baltimore's two-out rally going. Then Mullins hit a liner that appeared routine, but left fielder Alex Verdugo started in at first and couldn't recover well enough to prevent the ball from going over his head.

“I think he just misjudged it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Broke hard in, not wanting to get beat in front of him, and obviously it carried enough.”

Ben Rice hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth off Craig Kimbrel (6-2) to put the Yankees up 5-3, but New York's closer couldn't hold a lead either. Clay Holmes (1-4) allowed the Orioles to load the bases with two out. Then Ryan Mountcastle's grounder should have ended it, but Volpe's error made it 5-4 and kept the bases loaded.

Mullins, who came on as a pinch-runner the previous inning, delivered the big hit that snapped Baltimore's five-game winning streak and enabled the Orioles to take a one-game lead over the Yankees in the AL East into the All-Star break.

“You can't lead off an inning with two walks and make kind of a missed pitch,” Kimbrel said. “The boys battled, and we were able to put something special together there at the end. That was fun to watch."

Baltimore went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position and 2 for 22 in the series, but Mullins enabled the Orioles to avoid a three-game sweep at home. Anthony Santander and Gunnar Henderson homered for Baltimore. Trent Grisham went deep for New York.

Grisham, who was batting .173 entering the game, had three hits and drove in the first two New York runs. His RBI single in the second opened the scoring, but Henderson answered with a two-run shot in the third, his 28th homer of the season.

Grisham's solo homer in the fifth tied it.

Carlos Rodón allowed only two runs for the Yankees, but he was up to 98 pitches after four innings, causing New York to go to its bullpen. Santander's 24th home run put the Orioles up 3-2 in the fifth.

Baltimore starter Dean Kremer hit Aaron Judge with a pitch in the first inning, two days after Orioles outfielder Heston Kjerstad was hit in the helmet by a New York pitch and the benches cleared Friday night.

UP NEXT

The Yankees host Tampa Bay on Friday night. The Orioles are at Texas.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb