Incredible rally in ninth puts O's back in first to end half

BALTIMORE -- The losing streak is over, the All-Star break is here and the Orioles are still the American League East leaders after an improbable win.

Cedric Mullins hit a game-winning two-run, two-out double in the bottom of the ninth, and the Orioles seized on two fielding mistakes to rally to a 6-5 victory over the Yankees at Camden Yards on Sunday afternoon.

“We know what’s at stake when the Yankees come in,” Mullins said after his hit preserved a one-game division advantage entering the break. “We were able to hang on to it. This win was huge for us to go into the break and come back in with a positive attitude.”

Gunnar Henderson added his 28th home run in the third inning and Anthony Santander connected for his 24th in the fifth.

That looked like it would be enough, when Mullins entered as a pinch-runner in the eighth and stayed in to play center, to help Baltimore snap a five-game slide and preserve what it thought would be a 3-2 triumph.

Instead, Ben Rice’s three-run homer off Craig Kimbrel in the top of the ninth set off a wild sequence in the bottom half.

Clay Holmes had already allowed a single and two walks, but he appeared ready to escape a bases-loaded jam when Ryan Mountcastle grounded to short with two outs. Anthony Volpe’s fielding error let in a run and allowed the frame to continue.

Up came Mullins, who sent an opposite-field flare to medium depth in left. Alex Verdugo came in on the ball, realized his poor judgment too late and tumbled to the ground as he tried to retreat, with the ball landing several feet beyond him.

“I knew I hit it pretty good,” Mullins said. “As soon as I saw he was taking a step in, I figured he had a bad jump on it.”

It was only Baltimore’s second hit in 39 at-bats with runners in scoring position across what was, until Sunday, a disappointing six-game homestand.

The Orioles led the division by three games upon their return, an advantage that dwindled into a virtual tie following the Yankees’ series-deciding 6-1 victory on Saturday.

But despite suffering a second five-game slide in the space of just more than three weeks, Baltimore entered the four-day break having improved its standing by 4 1/2 games since a month ago Sunday, helped by the Yankees’ own struggles.

“We went through a little skid here, but it really doesn’t matter,” said O’s starter Dean Kremer, who allowed two runs in 4 2/3 innings. “What matters is getting hot at the end of the second half and kind of building on that for the playoffs. And I think we’re more than capable of doing that.”

Henderson and Santander looked like they might just allow Baltimore to pull out a win without breaking through with runners in scoring position.

Henderson drove his two-run shot into the seats in right-center off Yankees starter Carlos Rodón. After striking out twice from the right side against Rodón, Santander hammered reliever Tommy Kahnle’s fifth-inning offering from the opposite batter’s box onto Eutaw Street.

It was Santander’s first home run since being named as an American League All-Star injury replacement on Thursday, and the 11th of his career to land on the thoroughfare, tying a ballpark record held by Chris Davis.

Kimbrel blew his fifth save by walking the first two batters he faced before Rice sent an 0-1 fastball up in the zone into the seats in right-center. It was the closer’s first action since Baltimore arrived home following a 4-2 trip to the West Coast.

“I don’t make excuses,” Kimbrel said. “It really doesn’t matter how many days in a row or how many days I haven’t had the ball. I have to go out there and do my job. You can’t lead off an inning with two walks and make a missed pitch.”

Luckily for Kimbrel, the O's tenacious hitters put their rally caps on, bailed him out and turned his blown save into a triumphant ending.