Ryan Mountcastle and Jorge Mateo each homered and drove in two runs to lift the Baltimore Orioles to a series-deciding 7-2 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday.

Ryan McKenna also connected and Jordan Westburg’s two-run triple helped the Orioles complete a four-run fifth to chase Yankees starter Carlos Rodon (2-2) and secure a third win of the four-game set, the first this season between likely AL East contenders. The Orioles moved one game ahead of the Yankees in the division.

Righty Kyle Bradish allowed one run in 4 2/3 innings in his first start after beginning the season on the 15-day injured list with a UCL strain. Keegan Akin (1-0) retired four batters while allowing a run in middle relief.

“That might’ve been our best pitched series, honestly,” said Baltimore Manager Brandon Hyde, whose staff allowed six runs in the four games.

Gleyber Torres hit his first home run but also made the Yankees’ third error of the series to help extend the game’s decisive inning.

“He’s got to secure the ball,” Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said of Torres, who dropped the ball trying to barehand shortstop Anthony Volpe’s feed on a potential double play. “He’s made that play a lot. Didn’t in that spot.”

Rodon yielded all seven Baltimore runs — six earned — on eight hits in his shortest outing of 2024.

He escaped his bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second before Mountcastle’s home run in the third, and Mateo’s and McKenna’s in the fourth.

“Just being aggressive,” McKenna said of the Orioles’ adjustments. “I think guys started taking pitchers’ pitches against him, started barreling up some more.”

After Mountcastle singled in another run in the fifth, Anthony Santander grounded the potential double-play ball that Torres’ gaffe turned into a two-on, none-out situation.

A visit from pitching coach Matt Blake followed, but Westburg drove Rodon’s 2-1 slider down the middle to the base of the wall in left-center to plate both runners, then came home on Mateo’s sacrifice fly off newly entered reliever Ron Marinaccio.

“I thought we had [Adley] Rutschman struck out, and then we don’t turn the double play there,” Boone said of the inning.

Bradish threw 51 of 84 pitches for strikes in his return from a rehab assignment that ended more quickly than some expected.

The fourth-place finisher in the 2023 AL Cy Young vote escaped a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the first and left with runners on the corners in the fifth before Akin induced Anthony Rizzo into a popout to short.

“I think this clubhouse is pretty excited to get someone of that caliber back on the field,” Orioles catcher James McCann (Arkansas Razorbacks) said.

ASTROS 8, GUARDIANS 2 Jon Singleton homered and had three RBI and Jose Altuve added three hits to lead Houston to a win over Cleveland. The victory gives the Astros, who are last in the AL West at 11-20, consecutive series wins for the first time this season. Houston trailed 2-1 with one out in the sixth inning when Jeremy Pena tripled on a ball that deflected off the glove of center fielder Gabriel Arias. There were two outs when Singleton knocked a ball from Logan Allen (3-2) into the front row in right field to put the Astros up 3-2.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MARLINS 5, ROCKIES 4 (10) Jesus Sanchez hit a game-winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning and Miami beat Colorado and swept their three-game series. The Marlins got two of their three victories in the series in 10 innings. They earned a 7-6 win in the opener on Monday. Sanchez’s two-out opposite-field line drive to left off reliever Jalen Beeks scored automatic runner Luis Arraez from second. Justin Lawrence (1-2) struck out Bryan De La Cruz before Beeks retired Jazz Chisholm Jr. on fly out to center and walked Josh Bell. Arraez had two hits and Bell homered, while Miami starter Edward Cabrera and five relievers struck out 16. Burch Smith (1-0) pitched the 10th.

METS 7, CUBS 6 (11) Francisco Lindor delivered a pair of two-run doubles off the bench, rallying New York past Chicago in 11 innings for a split of their four-game series. Right fielder Starling Marte made two rocket throws in extra innings, cutting down Cubs runners at the plate to end the 10th and 11th. Brandon Nimmo had two RBI for the Mets, who overcame a 4-0 deficit to salvage a 3-4 homestand. Daniel Palencia (0-1) drilled Harrison Bader with a pitch to begin the bottom of the 11th.

INTERLEAGUE

GIANTS 3, RED SOX 1 Mike Yastrzemski had a visit from his grandfather Carl and then homered into the Red Sox bullpen like the Hall of Fame outfielder so often did in his heyday, and San Francisco beat Boston. Ryan Walker (3-2) pitched a perfect sixth inning to help the Giants avoid the sweep and snap Boston’s four-game winning streak. Camilo Doval pitched the ninth for his sixth save. Tyler O’Neill walked twice and hit a wall-scraping popup to drive in Boston’s only run.

   Baltimore Orioles’ Jorge Mateo celebrates his home run during the fourth inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)