O's win to split series as Mancini bat resurgence continues

The Orioles still didn't put up much offense today, but they did get just enough to win.

After César Valdez could not hold a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth and the Yankees tied it up, the Orioles produced a 4-3 walk-off win in the 10th inning.

Cedric Mullins' sac fly to center ended the game as the Orioles and Yankees split a four-game series.

Ramón Urías was the runner placed at second in the last of the 10th. He moved to third on Pat Valaika's sac bunt ahead of Mullins' sac fly.

The game was tied 2-2 in the last of the eighth when Darren O'Day walked Mullins to start the frame. On the first pitch, Austin Hays lined a slider to left center and Mullins, with his blazing speed, scored all the way from first on that double for a 3-2 lead.

But the lead got away, even though a win did not.

As the Orioles look to get their offense going with some consistency, seeing Trey Mancini have a big day today was a welcome sight.

Mancini was hitting .225 with a .709 OPS at game time, but his average has been on a slow but steady climb since the middle of the month. On April 16 at Texas he went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and was then batting .151 with a .579 OPS.

But Mancini ended last night's game with singles in the seventh and ninth innings. He collected the 499th and 500th hits of his career with those hits. And he became the 49th player to record 500 hits in an Orioles uniform and is the 14th Oriole to reach the 500-hit mark in 486 games or fewer.

Today he began the day going 3-for-3, and that meant he was 5-for-5 in his last five at-bats.

Mancini's RBI single in the first inning today, off Yankees lefty Jordan Montgomery, gave the Orioles a 1-0 lead. Mullins led off the game with a single and moved up on a Hays bunt. Mancini scored him for his 16th RBI.

In the O's sixth he hit a solo homer on a line drive to center to forge a 2-2 tie. He drove Montgomery's 1-1 cutter out of Camden Yards in a hurry. He produced an exit velocity of 110.5 mph on a ball that traveled 394 feet. It was his team-leading fifth home run, and with 17 RBIs, he tied Maikel Franco for the team lead in that category.

Getting Mancini going is very needed for the Orioles, who had scored just seven runs total in their last eight losses and have been shut out four times this month.

Over his past three games, Mancini has gone 6-for-11. Over his last 11 games, he is 15-for-40 (.375) with three doubles, two homers and seven RBIs. He now has five multi-RBI games for the year. The Yankees finally got him out when he grounded out in the eighth inning.

When it ended, the Orioles picked up the win in the 10th to complete a 3-4 homestand. A road trip begins in Oakland on Friday night.