A-Rod's three-run blast in ninth beats Orioles

BALTIMORE - Other than Jorge Posada's monstrous home run Tuesday against the Rays, crucial hits for the Yankees this trip have been in short supply.

Alex Rodriguez changed that with his own mammoth shot Friday night.

With the Yankees down to their last strike and about to lose for the ninth time in their last 11 games, A-Rod slammed a three-run homer to left to give his team a 4-3 victory in front of a crowd of 32,874 at Camden Yards that included general manager Brian Cashman.

The rocket, coming on righthander Koji Uehara's 2-and-2 pitch, was Rodriguez's second of the game and 25th of the season, and sent a surge through a Yankees dugout that hasn't had much to celebrate this trip.

"We've been struggling scoring runs," Joe Girardi said. "We had some guys on today and we just didn't seem to get the hit and then Alex has the huge hit for us. That's a big win."

The clutch home run took a loss away from A.J. Burnett, who was pitching with a black right eye. Burnett, who flew ahead of the team Wednesday, politely declined to answer questions about the injury. He wasn't awful in the start, allowing three runs and six hits - including two solo home runs - in seven innings. He struck out five and walked one.

"This is probably the best I've felt in a long time," Burnett said.

The victory allowed the Yankees, 2-5 on this trip, to pull back to a half-game lead in the AL East over the Rays, who lost to the Angels.

"We've run into a wall here," Rodriguez said. "We've played a lot of one-run games and been on the wrong side of things. For us, today was a big game."

After Rodriguez's homer, Mariano Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his 31st save. David Robertson (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth for the victory.

Orioles starter Kevin Millwood, who entered 3-15 with a 5.30 ERA, allowed one run and five hits in seven innings.

Leading 3-1, Millwood gave way to righthanded reliever Jim Johnson in the eighth, an inning in which the Yankees left two on, bringing their total to that point in the game to 10.

"When you're down and you win like that, coming from behind, they're all pretty big," Posada said. "Especially the way we've been playing. We've been playing with not a whole lot of luck."

Posada, who walked as a pinch hitter in the seventh, led off the ninth by winning an 11-pitch battle against Uehara, finally lining a single to left on a splitter that stayed up. After Derek Jeter struck out, Curtis Granderson singled to right. Mark Teixeira popped out, bringing A-Rod to the plate. Rodriguez fell behind 1-and-2 and much of the crowd thought Uehara's next pitch was strike three.

"I didn't think it was close," Rodriguez said of the pitch that plate umpire Ted Barrett called a ball to even the count at 2-and-2 and set up the home run that turned the Yankees' night from one of deflation to elation.

"We needed it," Girardi said. "This has been a frustrating road trip for us. As I said before, we were 1-5 and we probably could have won four or five of the games and we had only won one. So I think this was a big win for us."