BALTIMORE _ In good and not-so-good times, the Yankees could always count on a trip to Camden Yards to boost their lineup's ego and the team's win column.
And if there was ever a moment that Aaron Boone's club needed that reliable pick-me-up, it was Friday.
Only this time, the Orioles pushed them to extra innings.
In the quiet shadows of the B&O Railroad Building, ninth-inning RBI singles by Miguel Andujar and Clint Frazier off Travis Lakins pushed the Yankees to a 6-5 victory in the opener of a seven-inning doubleheader.
Chad Green yielded a run in the ninth, but prevented the O's first win against the Yankees since March 31, 2019. Baltimore hasn't defeated the Yanks at the Inner Harbor since the summer of 2018.
Jonathan Holder worked out of trouble in the eighth, stranding the winning run at third by striking out pinch-hitter and former Mets prospect Dilson Herrera and getting the dangerous Anthony Santander on a full-count fly out.
Losing their use of the designated hitter through a series of late Yankees defensive switches, Holder was the runner placed at second base and scored the go-ahead run, pushed to third on DJ LeMahieu groundout.
Andujar had just arrived Friday evening from the alternate site camp, with Gio Urshela (bone spur, right elbow) added to the injured list.
Just as they did Thursday against the Mets at Citi Field, the Yankees built a three-run lead, only to hand it back.
Yet, the Yankees have now defeated the Orioles 19 consecutive times, and 18 straight at Charm City.
After surrendering a game-tying, ninth-inning homer in Thursday's 9-7 loss to the Mets, Aroldis Chapman entered a tie game in the seventh and held the O's in check, with two strikeouts.
But with runners at the corners in the eighth, pinch-hitter Aaron Hicks bounced into an inning-ending double play.
Entering Friday, the Yankees _ five games behind the AL East-leading Rays _ were already closer to the fourth-place Orioles than to first place.
After Gary Sanchez belted his seventh homer of the year in the second, Brett Gardner's two-run single off O's starter Thomas Eshelman highlighted a three-run third inning.
But the Yankees' 4-1 lead was cut into by a Rio Ruiz two-run shot in the fourth, the second homer yielded Friday by starter Michael King, who lasted four innings.
Baltimore tied it on Renato Nunez's fifth-inning solo homer against Ben Heller, coming on an 0-and-2 pitch.
Both clubs missed late scoring chances, starting when Zack Britton turned back his old teammates in the sixth _ eluding a bases loaded, one-out jam by retiring Santander and Iglesias (force out).
Singles by Luke Voit and Gardner started the Yankees' seventh with runners at first and second, but Hunter Harvey retired the next three hitters.
