BALTIMORE _ A game Joe Girardi tabbed beforehand as "probably the most important" one of the season did not produce an offensive outburst from a rejiggered lineup or lights-out starting pitching by the inconsistent Michael Pineda.
But, with just enough offense and some game-saving middle-relief work by Luis Severino, Sunday afternoon did result in the victory Girardi felt the Yankees had to have, a 5-2 triumph over the Orioles in front of 31,161 at Camden Yards.
The Yankees (70-65), in avoiding a three-game sweep to complete this six-game trip with a 3-3 record, are 3 { games behind the Orioles (74-62) for the AL's second wild-card spot.
The Bombers return to the Stadium on Monday for a three-game series against the Blue Jays, the start of a 10-game homestand.
"Trying to shake it up and see if we can score some runs," Girardi said of the righty-dominant lineup he sent out against struggling Orioles left-hander Wade Miley, who turned out to be an early remedy for an offense that had been shut out the first two games.
But even with the Yankees scoring three times in the first, highlighted by a two-run single by DH Austin Romine, and once in the third to take a 4-0 lead, Severino's two-inning performance stood out.
The 23-year-old right-hander, who never got things going this year as a starter and spent the majority of the season in the minors, came in for Pineda with none out in the fifth after Pedro Alvarez's double scored Adam Jones to make it 4-2. After a wild pitch moved Alvarez to third, Severino struck out Manny Machado on a slider. After walking Mark Trumbo and Chris Davis to load the bases, Severino struck out Steve Pearce with a 97-mph fastball, then got Matt Wieters to ground to second for the third out.
Fully settled in, Severino pitched a perfect sixth.
Tommy Layne (1/3 of an inning) and Adam Warren teamed up for a perfect seventh and Tyler Clippard came on for the eighth.
Davis led off with a single, a liner that hit Clippard, but the pitcher struck out Pearce and Wieters. In came Dellin Betances, who retired Jonathan Schoop on a broken-bat ground out.
After a two-base error gave the Yankees a run in the top of the ninth, making it 5-2, Betances pitched a perfect bottom half for his eighth save.
Pineda allowed two runs and five hits over four-plus innings. He walked two and struck out four.
Miley, who came in 1-3 with a 7.14 ERA since being acquired from Seattle on July 31, immediately walked the first two batters, Brett Gardner and Rob Refsnyder, in what would be a 36-pitch inning. Gary Sanchez, 4-for-21 the first five games of this trip, struck out, as did Starlin Castro, who came in with 20 hits in his last 57 at-bats. Chase Headley, however, improved to 6-for-17 on this trip with a bloop single to left that brought in Gardner to make it 1-0. Romine followed by grounding a 1-and-2 pitch into left for a two-run single that made it 3-0.
Pineda allowed a leadoff single to Jones and a one-out single to Machado, but struck out Trumbo and Davis to end the 20-pitch inning.
The Yankees added on in the third. Refsnyder led off with a single and Sanchez walked. Castro grounded into a 6-4-3 double play but Headley's second hit of the day, an infield single, brought in Refsnyder to make it 4-0.
Miley allowed four runs, five hits and four walks over five innings.
