Yankees Slide By Orioles

It was just another crazy game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, with the usual result.

Shane Spencer hit a tiebreaking homer leading off the ninth inning as Yankees won another slugfest against the Orioles, pounding out 16 hits in a 9-8 victory Friday night.

New York has won three of four from Baltimore this year, outscoring the Orioles 36-27. This time, the Yankees blew a three-run lead before rallying to beat Baltimore for the 16th time in the last 21 meetings.

"Our whole lineup has been swinging the bats well. It started five or six days ago," said Tino Martinez, who went 4-for-4 with a walk. "Everybody's in a groove, getting into a rhythm. Hopefully, we can keep that going for a while now."

New York scored in all but two innings and went down in order only once.

"There's no excuse for giving up those hits and runs," Baltimore manager Ray Miller said. "We've played them close, but five walks and 16 hits allows those things to happen."

Baltimore's Jesse Orosco made his major-league record 1,051st relief appearance, breaking a tie with Kent Tekulve atop the career list. Orosco has pitched in 1,055 games, 16 short of the record held by Dennis Eckersley.

"Of course I'm happy. It just didn't work out for the team," Orosco said.

Harold Baines homered twice and drove in four runs for the Orioles, who have lost three straight after an 11-1 surge. Charles Johnson also homered and B.J. Surhoff had three hits.

With the score 8-8, Spencer hit a 2-0 pitch from Mike Timlin (3-6) over the center-field wall, his fourth homer of the year.

"We've been swinging the bats. We got 'em last," Spencer said. "We're fortunate we got 'em tonight because they've been playing some good ball."

Dan Naulty (1-0) pitched 1 2-3 innings and Mariano Rivera worked the ninth for his 19th save.

Baines' second homer, a three-run shot in the sventh inning off Mike Stanton, erased a 7-5 deficit and gave the Orioles their first lead. Baines was 0-for-6 lifetime against Stanton before hitting a 423-foot shot to straightaway center.

It was the first three-run inning against the Yankees in 12 games.

But New York tied it in the eighth when Martinez singled in a run off Orosco after Scott Kamieniecki walked Bernie Williams and gave up a single to Derek Jeter.

"I kind of feel for our club. We battled our butts off but just couldn't hold it," Miller said.

The Yankees used sacrifice flies by Jeter and Paul O'Neill to take a 2-0 first-inning lead.

Baltimore retaliated quickly, with its first three batters producing more runs (two) than the entire team scored in its previous two games (one). Brady Anderson walked, Mike Bordick singled and Surhoff followed with a two-run single.

New York regained the lead in the third on Scott Erickson's third walk of the inning, to Chili Davis with two outs and the bases loaded.

A double by Scott Brosius and an RBI single by Chuck Knoblauch made it 4-2 in the fourth. Baines hit an opposite-field drive to left in the Orioles' half.

The Yankees went up 5-3 in the fifth when Martinez singled and scored on a two-out double by Jorge Posada. Again the Orioles answered, this time with a solo homer by Johnson, his 13th of the season.

Williams singled in a run and Martinez added an RBI double to make it 7-4 in the sixth. Martinez's hit chased Erickson, who has yielded 15 runs and 21 hits in two starts against the Yankees this season.

Baltimore got a run in its half when Baines scored on a passed ball.

Notes: