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Tejada, Orioles stave off Yankees in 10th

Aug 15, 2007 - 11:48 PM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - After blowing a three-run lead in Yankee Stadium and with Mariano Rivera on the mound, many would have expected the Baltimore Orioles to cave in. They just shrugged it off and did what has rarely been done against the New York Yankees since the All-Star break - win a series.

The Orioles blew a three-run lead in the ninth inning but rebounded in the 10th as Miguel Tejada had a go-ahead double and Aubrey Huff hit a two-run home run in a 6-3 victory over the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon.

Baltimore was just one out away from a 3-0 win, which would have given Erik Bedard a career-high ninth straight victory. But the bullpen combination of Danys Baez and Jamie Walker failed miserably.

Baez opened the inning by allowing consecutive singles to Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui. Walker replaced Baez and retired pinch hitter Bobby Abreu, but rookie Shelley Duncan crushed an 0-1 pitch over the left field fence for his sixth home run to tie the game.

"I've seen it so many times here," Huff said. "There's something about this place, the game's never over here."

The Orioles rallied against Rivera (3-4) on Monday with bloops and soft singles, but this time each ball they hit off him was a hard one. Nick Markakis started it with a double that glanced off the right-center field fence and scored when Tejada lined a double over Matsui's head in left.

"I've seen it before," said Orioles manager Dave Trembley, whose team has won four of six from Boston and New York. "Obviously, we let them back in it but (we said) we got to turn the page and that's what we did.

"With us, we have the kind of guys who won't give up. I know the makeup of this team and they will play until the final out. We showed that against the Red Sox and here again against the Yankees."

With Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez due up in the bottom of the 10th, the Orioles were looking for more and they got it when Huff hit a 1-2 pitch to right field for his second home run in as many games.

"I finally barreled one," said Huff, who is 6-for-15 lifetime off Rivera. "That's the first ball I've hit hard off him."

It marked the third straight shaky outing for Rivera, who had recorded 19 straight saves and turned in 13 straight scoreless outings before allowing a run in Monday's 7-6 win. "Anytime Mo pitches you figure he's automatic, but he is human," Jeter said. "He's going to make mistakes sometimes."

It was the second time this season that Rivera gave up runs in consecutive outings and it also cost the Yankees a chance to gain ground on the American League East-leading Red Sox, who remained five games ahead.

"I'm a human, I'm allowed to make mistakes," Rivera said.

"He got hit hard tonight, there's no question," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "The other night is another story but, if Mo's going to have problems, those are the types of hits the other night that you're going to see a lot more of.

"But today it was just probably balls, not necessarily in the middle of the plate, but fat around the plate."

Unlike the series opener, his teammates could not overcome his performance as Chad Bradford retired the side in the 10th to secure Baltimore's eighth win in 12 games against the Yankees this season.

Bedard was stellar again, tossing seven scoreless innings - allowing just four hits, striking out eight and walking two. The lefthander is 11 shy of Mike Mussina's franchise mark of 218 strikeouts in a season.

"That's life," Bedard said. "You can't win them all but we came back and won the game and that's what counts."

Bedard's only serious threat was a two-out jam in the sixth after he allowed consecutive singles to Rodriguez and Matsui. But he ended the threat by fanning Jorge Posada.

Leading, 1-0, in the fourth, the Orioles took a 3-0 lead when Tike Redman had an RBI infield single and took second on New York rookie starter Phil Hughes' fielding error, which also allowed Huff to score.

In his third start since returning from the disabled list, Hughes pitched decently, allowing three runs and six hits in five innings while striking out four and walking two.

Rodriguez had four hits for the Yankees (67-53), who lost for just the fourth time in 16 games.

They have dropped consecutive games for the first time since July 27-28 in Baltimore and remained five games behind Boston (72-48) in the AL East while also staying in a virtual tie with Seattle (66-52) in the wild card race.