Chris Davis hits tiebreaking homer in ninth as O's win 2-1

Chris Davis probably was not unhappy when the Yankees had a lefty reliever face him to start the top of the ninth tonight. Chasen Shreve came on in a 1-1 game.

After all, Davis has hit lefies well this year, batting .289 with an OPS of .850 and nine homers in 149 at-bats. Then, when Shreve left a 2-0 fastball up and out over the plate, Davis lined it into the left-field stands for his 41st homer.

That blast put the Orioles ahead 2-1 and they won by that score tonight at Yankee Stadium to end a three-game losing streak. In winning for just the fourth time in 19 games, the O's improved to 66-72.

The Orioles ended a five-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium, improving to 2-7 there this year and 6-9 in the season series.

The Orioles went 1-2-3 in order on offense over the game's first four innings as Masahiro Tanaka needed just 40 pitches to get 12 outs. He allowed a walk and infield single in the fifth.

But Ryan Flaherty led off the sixth and lined a homer to right for a 1-0 Orioles lead. Flaherty hit a 94 mph fastball on a 3-2 pitch. It was his eighth homer and his fourth over his past 10 games. The Orioles' two runs came on homers tonight and they've hit two or more homers in five of their last six games, hitting 13 in that span.

But Alex Rodriguez hit his 30th homer leading off the home half of the sixth for the 1-1 tie. Rodriguez hit a 98 mph Kevin Gausman fastball on a 3-2 pitch. It was his 67th career homer against the Orioles. That is second all-time versus the Orioles, behind only Harmon Killebrew, who hit 68.

Gausman ran some deep pitch counts early in the game and needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning and 47 to get through two frames. He was replaced by T.J McFarland after the Rodriguez homer. So Gausman went five-plus innings, allowing six hits and one run with one walk and five strikeouts. He threw 103 pitches. Darren O'Day got the win and Zach Britton picked up his 31st save in 34 chances.

For the O's rotation, this was the 10th straight game where the starter failed to pitch at least six innings and the 12th consecutive game without a quality start. For New York, Tanaka went eight innings, allowing six hits and one run with one walk and 10 strikeouts in a no-decision. He threw 104 pitches. New York falls to 77-60.

In the finale of this series and road trip on Wednesday night, Ubaldo Jimenez (10-9, 4.24 ERA) faces left-hander CC Sabathia (4-9, 5.27 ERA).