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Orioles top Yankees, 6-5; Britton records 16th save, Kim has three-hit night

It wasn't always pretty (just ask Chris Tillman), but the Orioles found a way to beat the Yankees for a Friday night home victory.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Orioles wins are great. Orioles wins on Friday nights are even better. Orioles wins on Friday nights at home are even better. Orioles wins on Friday nights at home against the New York Yankees? That's just the perfect combination.

On this Friday night, the Yankees had no answer for the hometown Orioles magic.

The recap

Through the first three innings, Chris Tillman was on track to have one of the better nights of his year. Mark Trumbo crushed an double and scored in the bottom of the second, and Tillman struck out a pair, allowing just a hit to enter the top of the fourth with a 1-0 lead.

But as has been the overwhelming trend with Oriole starting pitching this year, all good things must and did come to an end. After Brett Gardner walked with one out, Carlos Beltran sent a long fly ball over the outfield wall for a two-run shot, putting the Yankees up 2-1.

The next batter would be Alex Rodriguez, who also felt it necessary to deliver solid contact. He hit an opposite-field line drive just over the scoreboard in right to extend the lead to 3-1, effectively sucking the energy out of Friday night's Camden Yards crowd.

Tillman eventually got out of the fourth, but not before allowing two more singles and upping the pitch count to 74.

In the bottom of the inning on Nathan Eovaldi's 48th pitch of the night, Chris Davis launched a solo homer onto (or very close to) Eutaw Street on a 3-2 changeup. His 11th of the season cut the Yankee lead to just one, a margin that didn't exactly stick, however.

On Tillman's second pitch of the fifth inning, Austin Romine launched a round-tripper to left on a breaking ball. Tillman ultimately worked out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts (one against Alex Rodriguez), but left the fifth with 93 pitches.

He'd be pulled with two outs in the sixth inning after a Chase Headley RBI single scored Didi Gregorius, who doubled to center, to make the score 5-2.

Things did appear bleak at Camden Yards for a few moments, but not before the vicious Orioles bats would bite against Eovaldi in the bottom of the sixth. After a walk from Davis and singles from Hyun-Soo Kim and Trumbo to load the bases, Matt Wieters blooped a two-RBI single to left field, cutting the NYY lead to 5-4.

After a Pedro Alvarez strikeout (sigh), Jonathan Schoop ripped an RBI double to left. It scored Trumbo, knotting the score at five to wipe Tillman's slate clean and hand the rest of the game over to the bullpens.

T.J. McFarland and Mychal Givens worked in the scoreless seventh, McFarland notching the first two outs while Wieters tossed Brett Gardner out at second base. With Birdland rocking, the O's offense decided to seal the deal.

Adam Jones led off the bottom of the inning with a single, Kim picked up his third hit of the night to advance #10 to third, and Manny Machado rolled a slow roller to third to tally the RBI and put the good guys ahead.

Just like that, it was 6-5 heading into the eighth.

Sans Darren O'Day, Buck Showalter stuck with Mychal Givens (whose ERA currently sits at 2.05), a decision that paid dividends. It took just nine pitches for the 26-year-old to record three quick outs, handing the one-run lead to Zach Britton in the bottom of the ninth.

And what did he do? Well, you already know.

The Orioles are back to nine games over .500, tied for first place in the American League East.

Celebrate good times!