O's rally from three down to beat Yankees, win third straight

After falling behind by three runs in the sixth inning tonight, and on a night where Chris Tillman gave up three more homers, the Orioles still pulled out a win.

Coming from 5-2 behind, the Orioles rallied for a 6-5 win over the New York Yankees tonight in the opener of three-game series. They improved to 31-22 with a third straight victory.

The Orioles are 24-14 against the Yankees since June 21, 2014 and they are 16-4 in their last 20 home games versus the Yankees. New York falls to 25-29 and has lost seven of 10 games.

With the game tied 5-5 in the seventh, the Orioles faced suddenly fallible New York reliever Dellin Betances. He had struck out 50 batters in 25 2/3 innings this year, but also had been scored on in back-to-back games, and the Orioles would make that three in a row tonight.

Adam Jones led off with a single to left and Hyun Soo Kim solidly singled to center on a 97 mph heater, sending Jones to third with no outs. When Manny Machado hit a slow roller to third, Jones charged down the line with the go-ahead run, making it 6-5 Orioles.

For the second start in a row, Tillman gave up three home runs and did not record a quality start. Over 5 2/3 innings, he gave up eight hits and five runs, throwing 109 pitches. Over his past two starts, he has thrown 11 2/3 innings, giving up 12 hits, nine runs and six homers. He had pitched to an ERA of 1.94 his previous seven starts and gave up just three homers over his first 10 starts this season.

On this homestand, O's starting pitchers have worked 26 innings and have given up 24 runs and 12 homers in five games.

With the Orioles leading 1-0, New York scored three runs on two homers in the fourth for a 3-1 lead. This was after Tillman needed just 31 pitches to the get the first nine outs. He was rolling.

But in that fourth inning, he was falling behind hitters. He walked Brett Gardner on four pitches with one out. Carlos Beltran followed with a two-run blast to right-center on a 3-1 pitch. It was No. 13 for Beltran. Alex Rodriguez followed with a homer to right on a 3-1 pitch and it was 3-1. It was his 68th career homer versus the Orioles and fifth against Tillman in 18 career at-bats. Tillman threw 43 pitches in that inning.

In the second, the O's had taken the lead on a Mark Trumbo double and Pedro Alvarez RBI single to center. Down 3-1, the Orioles got a solo homer from Chris Davis in the fourth to cut New York's lead in half.

That was No. 11 this year for Davis and his 100th career homer at Camden Yards. Rafael Palmeiro leads the all-time list with 124 at Oriole Park, followed by Jones with 110 and Davis is third.

Austin Romine led off the New York fifth inning with a line drive homer to left on a 1-0 slider. It was his second of the year and produced a 4-2 Yankees lead. The lead grew to 5-2 on Chase Headley's single in the sixth.

But in the O's sixth, they scored three runs to knock out Nathan Eovaldi and tie the game. Singles by Kim and Trumbo and a walk to Davis loaded the bases. Matt Wieters singled to left on a 3-1 pitch to make it 5-4 and end Eovaldi's outing. With two outs, Jonathan Schoop's double to left made it 5-5. Schoop has 19 RBIs his last 21 games.

The Orioles, who have scored 31 runs their last three games, improved to 20-10 at home and 3-1 on the year against New York. In Game 2 of the series on Saturday night, Tyler Wilson (2-4, 3.83 ERA) pitches against right-hander Ivan Nova (3-3, 3.98 ERA).