Matt Harvey pitches O's past Yankees

With one strong outing tonight, Orioles right-hander Matt Harvey both pitched past his previous five-inning ceiling and pitched the O's to a win over the Yankees in the opener of a four-game series.

After beginning Sunday with just one home win, now the Orioles have three after beating New York 4-2 in front of 6,367 at Oriole Park.

The top of the eighth got dicey for the Orioles and ended with a controversial play that went against New York.

Harvey picked up his second O's win and produced his first start of six innings or more since he went six for the Los Angeles Angels against Houston on July 18, 2019.

Harvey began his night when he fanned DJ LeMahieu looking at a 94 mph fastball. After Giancarlo Stanton walked, he got Aaron Judge to bounce into a 5-4-3 double play.

Harvey got into a two-on, one-out jam in the second, but a fly out and strikeout of Gary Sánchez ended that. He would get on a bit of a run at that point, and he retired 11 in a row through the fifth inning. He was at 71 pitches with five strikeouts through five.

Leading 2-0, Harvey gave up a run but got out of the sixth with the lead. He walked No. 9 hitter Clint Frazier to start the inning, but he then got LeMahieu to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play. But then back-to-back doubles by Stanton (at 115 mph) and Judge (at 112 mph) pulled the Yankees within 2-1. But Harvey got No. 4 hitter Rougned Odor to fly out. That would end his night with six innings of one-run ball in the books and the Orioles on their way to winning the series opener.

Harvey is 2-1 with an ERA of 4.26. The Yankees went just 3-for-19 against him.

Harvey threw his two- and four-seam fastballs between 92 and 95 mph. He used his four-seam on 32 pitches, his two-seam sinker for 24 and threw 19 sliders. He got 11 whiffs on 40 swings, including on four of 10 swings against his slider.

Meanwhile, Cedric Mullins continued his torrid hitting with a two-homer game. He produced his fourth leadoff homer in the last of the first, coming through on 0-1 fastball from right-hander Deivi García. He added a solo blast to center in the seventh off lefty Justin Wilson.

Mullins hit his first homer onto Eutaw Street - the 49th O's homer there in park history. He would go 3-for-4 and added a double, and is now hitting .365. He has nine hits his last 18 at-bats, and this was his first career two-homer game.

Leading 4-1, the O's sent Tanner Scott out for the eighth after Travis Lakins Sr. pitched a scoreless seventh. But Scott walked two, got Stanton to fly out and walked Judge to load the bases. Manager Brandon Hyde stuck with him for a left-on-left matchup, and Scott fanned Odor.

Hyde then called on César Valdez. He faced Gio Urshela, who lined a hit into left. It scored one run and appeared to score a second, but in left field Austin Hays got the ball and fired to third to get Judge 7-5. The umpires ruled that the third out was recorded at third before the second run scored on the play, and the O's took a 4-2 lead to the ninth.

Valdez then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to gain the save and wrap up an O's victory.

The Orioles got a pleasing win against a team against which they were 4-25 in their last 29 tries. The O's move into fourth in the American League East at 10-12, while New York falls into last at 9-13.