Brach's great escape was final act as O's win three of four in the Bronx

Of all the crazy things that took place over 4 hours, 48 minutes and 12 innings on Sunday, the most improbable may have been saved for last.

Orioles closer Brad Brach - in the span of a few pitches - went from a goat, and potentially blowing a key save, to one of the heroes. All he had to do to achieve that was face Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton with the bases loaded and no outs and his team leading by one.

Good luck with that. No place to put them. No chance to pitch around them.

Stanton was the 2017 National League MVP when he slugged .631 with 59 homers, 132 RBIs and a 1.007 OPS. Judge was last year's American League Rookie of the Year and finished second for MVP when he slugged .627 with 52 homers, 114 RBIs and with an OPS of 1.049.

Brach had walked two batters and made an error to load the bases for two of the game's most dangerous sluggers. Surely, the meltdown would be complete in seconds and "New York, New York" would be blaring on the loudspeakers.

Except that didn't happen. He recorded among the most improbable of saves and pulled off an amazing escape act. Judge grounded into a 1-2-5 double play, with catcher Caleb Joseph throwing to third base for the second out. Brach fanned Stanton with a 93.5 mph fastball on a 1-2 pitch. The Orioles beat the Yankees 8-7 in 12 innings. That capped a day where Stanton went 0-for-7 with five strikeouts and left nine runners on base. He went 2-for-19 in the series, while Judge went 5-for-17. They hit a combined .194 (7-for-36) in the four-game series with 13 strikeouts and 20 runners left on base.

So, yeah, pretty remarkable escape act against that team, in that stadium and versus that pair of hitters.

Before that, so much happened that was pretty amazing, as well. The Orioles spotted the Yankees a 5-0 lead in the first. Anthony Santander hit his first major league homer to give the Orioles their first lead at 7-6 in the seventh. It came when he got the green light on a 3-0 count. Craig Gentry made a game-saving catch in left field in the last of the 10th and produced the game-winning single in the 12th on the 11th pitch of an at-bat.

Right-hander Pedro Araujo pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings with five strikeouts. In the series, he went 4 1/3 scoreless innings on one hit with six strikeouts and the Yankees were 1-for-14 against him. Araujo has fanned 11 and allowed a batting average against of .148 in his first five games in the majors. Yes, the Rule 5 pick gave it up in Houston, but he's shown vast potential as well so far.

Lefty Richard Bleier, working for the third day in a row, threw three scoreless and needed 42 pitches to do it to get a win. He beat his former team.

The Orioles bullpen was pretty remarkable. They worked 11 1/3 innings yesterday, two days after they were needed to cover nine innings in Friday's 14-inning victory. For the four-game series, the bullpen worked a combined 26 innings, allowing 18 hits and seven runs for an ERA of 2.42.

So the Orioles beat the Yankees on Sunday using two Rule 5 picks and a reserve outfielder as key players. They also used their seventh-round draft pick catcher and Bleier, a lefty they acquired from the Yankees before last season began.

The Orioles went 2-8 last season in Yankee Stadium allowing 10.2 runs per game. They were 3-1 this series allowing 4.0 runs per game. It was their first series win at New York since the season's final series in 2016.

They went 3-1 in the series without pitching Dylan Bundy and of course they didn't use Alex Cobb, who still has not joined the major league roster.

When the Orioles were swept in Houston, most fans were probably hoping or maybe that is begging for a series split in the club's 2017 house of horrors. The O's did much better.

Over time, we will find out what this series meant to the team. Could it propel them to a solid season? Can they overcome a bullpen on fumes as they head home? Will the heavy early bullpen usage have lasting impact in a negative way? Did they send a signal to the rest of the league over the last four days?

The Orioles have played 10 games, but it feels like 40 already. They don't even have a winning record at 4-6, but they started the year facing three consecutive 2017 playoff teams. Boston is 8-1 with the best record in baseball, but that has come versus Tampa Bay and Miami.

Starting Tuesday night, the Red Sox face the Yankees and Orioles for seven games and then head to the West Coast. Boston won its eighth consecutive game on Sunday by scoring six runs in the last of the eighth inning.

On the farm: Single-A Delmarva is now 4-0 after thumping Asheville 14-9 Sunday to complete a four-game sweep. The Shorebirds scored 32 runs over the last two games and hit .357 as a team with an OPS of .934 in the season-opening series. Yesterday, Trevor Craport and Jean Carrillo drove in three runs each. Brenan Hanifee got the win, allowing two earned runs over six innings.

Triple-A Norfolk is now 1-1 after a 3-1 walk-off win over Gwinnett. Outfielder DJ Stewart hit a two-out, two-run homer to end the game in the bottom of the ninth. Right-hander David Hess made his Triple-A debut and allowed one run and three hits over five innings with seven strikeouts on 65 pitches.

Double-A Bowie (2-2) beat Harrisburg 6-4. Cedric Mullins homered and drove in two runs and Ademar Rifaela went 3-4. Starter Christian Binford allowed one run over six innings to get a victory.

Single-A Frederick (3-1) split a doubleheader at Myrtle Beach. In the opener, a 6-4 Keys win, Preston Palmeiro went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Starter Cody Sedlock allowed four runs over four innings. In the second game, the Keys were held to three hits and shut out 3-0.