BALTIMORE — On the verge of a crushing loss Wednesday, the Yankees instead turned to Tyler Wade and Brett Gardner in the top of the ninth to come back and beat the Orioles.
Gardner’s two-run single in the top of the ninth gave the Yankees the lead, and they held on in the bottom of the inning to beat Baltimore, 4-3, at Camden Yards and keep pace in the AL wild-card race.
Aroldis Chapman, pitching for a third straight day, retired the side in order in the bottom of the inning, as the Yankees won their third in a row after dropping eight of nine.
It allowed the Yankees to remain tied atop the wild-card standings with the Blue Jays and percentage points ahead of the Red Sox, both of whom also won Wednesday.
The Yankees were in deep trouble after another Gleyber Torres error prolonged the bottom of the eighth before Chad Green gave up a homer in a third consecutive appearance later in the inning to put the Yankees in a one-run hole.
But Baltimore fell apart in the ninth.
Luke Voit led off with a walk against Tyler Wells and was replaced by pinch-runner Wade. Torres then singled, sending Wade to second.
Gary Sanchez flied out to center, and with Gardner at the plate, the Yankees pulled off a double steal — as Wade beat the throw to third and Torres got to second.
Aaron Boone praised Wade’s “special” steal of third, noting Wells is quick to the plate, Austin Wynns is a strong-armed catcher and the Orioles were trying to keep Wade close.
It forced Baltimore to bring the infield in and as the skies opened up, Gardner lofted a single to center to drive in both runners.
“That’s the guy you want up,’’ Wade said. “His heartbeat is really slow and he came through tonight.”
“I fouled off some tough pitches and was able to float a changeup into no man’s land, thank goodness,’’ Gardner said.
The rally bailed out the struggling Green and Torres, who both had ugly eighth innings.
Green came on in the seventh with the Yankees holding a one-run lead and got the final two outs.
In the eighth, Green gave up a leadoff single to Wynns, then got Cedric Mullins to hit a liner to Torres at second.
Torres dropped it, but instead of getting the force at second, inexplicably threw to first for the out — allowing Wynns to get to second — just adding to Torres’ bad run in the field that could wind up ending his time in The Bronx.
Green came back to strike out Ryan Mountcastle and got ahead of Hays 0-2 before Hays took him deep, giving Baltimore a 3-2 lead — briefly wasting an outstanding performance from Nestor Cortes Jr., who gave up just one run and struck out a career-high 11 in 6 ¹/₃ innings.
The Yankees were also victims of some bad luck.
Sanchez nearly gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead in the top of the second. After Torres walked with two outs, Sanchez came up and blasted a shot deep to center off that seemed to be a sure two-run homer, but Mullins made an incredible leaping catch at the wall to rob the Yankees’ catcher — leaving both teams in disbelief.
The Yankees broke through against Baltimore lefty John Means in the third.
Gardner led off with a single and Gio Urshela followed with his 12th homer of the season and first since July 4.
Cortes rolled early, at one point retiring eight in a row before Pat Valaika singled with one out in the fifth. Cortes, though, got some help from Urshela later in the inning.
Urshela, at shortstop with Torres having been shifted back to second, made a terrific diving play to his right on a low liner from Wynns to end the inning.
Cortes looked overpowering — or as overpowering as a pitcher can be when topping out at 93 mph — having allowed just two hits as he headed into the sixth.
“We’re down to the wire now,’’ Boone s aid. “We’re in a battle with a little over two weeks to go.”