ST. PETERSBURG — The Yankees remained on the cusp of two pennant races Sunday thanks to Alfonso Soriano’s bat and legs.
Facing a must-win situation in order to avoid being swept by the Rays at Tropicana Field, Soriano doubled, stole third and scored on Curtis Granderson’s fly ball to center to lead the Yankees to a 3-2 victory in 11 innings that was witnessed by 34,078.
The victory stopped a two-game Yankees slide and moved them to 3 ½ games of Oakland for the second AL Wild Card spot.
Mariano Rivera recorded the final three outs for his 38th save and send the Yankees to Toronto where a three-game series with the lowly Blue Jays opens Monday.
Despite six walks (one intentional) in 6 ²/₃ innings, Nova provided the Yankees a chance to win by allowing only two runs. He left with the score tied, 2-2, and watched Chris Stewart throw out David DeJesus to end the seventh attempting to swipe second.
Evan Longoria’s third homer in three games tied the score, 2-2, in the sixth and Nova was faced with a scoring threat when Matt Joyce followed with a double. But Nova whiffed Will Myers, walked James Loney intentionally and got Desmond Jennings on a grounder to short.
Robinson Cano’s double to left-center scored Ichiro Suzuki from first and put the Yankees ahead, 2-1, in the sixth but a poor baserunning decision by Cano cost the Yankees a chance to pad the lead.
Ichiro led off the frame with a chop single over the mound and scored easily on Cano’s double. For some reason Cano thought he had a chance at a triple even though second baseman Ben Zobrist had taken Myers’
throw from right field in short right field as Cano was making the turn at second. Zobrist’s throw to Evan Longoria at third arrived so far ahead of Cano that he pulled up and was tagged out.
Instead of leading, 2-1, with a runner on second and no outs, the Yankees had a one-run advantage with one out. Alfonso Soriano followed with an infield hit to short and advanced to second on a throwing error by Yunel Escobar.
Alex Cobb walked Curtis Granderson intentionally and got Nunez on a ground out. Lefty Alex Torres surfaced to catch Lyle Overbay looking at a borderline 3-2 pitch to strand two runners.
Cano’s one-out, opposite-field homer to left in the fourth inning tied the score, 1-1, but the Yankees missed a chance to jump ahead when Zobrist made a diving stop of a Lyle Overbay ground ball to end the inning and keep Granderson from scoring from second.
With two outs, Granderson and Nunez singled in front of Zobrist ranging to his left to rob Overbay of an RBI single.
Nova was fortunate to get out of the first inning by allowing just a run because he trailed, 1-0, before getting an out.
David DeJesus opened with a single, Zobrist walked and Longoria’s single to left plated DeJesus from second. Joyce forced Longoria at second with a grounder to the right side and with runners at the corners James Loney hit a grounder to third baseman Mark Reynolds that started a 5-2-3 double play.
Nova used the double play ball to nip a developing scoring threat in the third when the Brooklyn-born and Rutgers product DeJesus opened with a single. But Zobrist’s hard ground ball was inhaled by Cano and turned into a 4-6-3 double play.
A four-pitch leadoff walk to Joyce vanished into the 5-4-3 double play ball Nova induced Loney to hit into in the fourth.
Nova’s defense continued to help in the fifth when Chris Stewart threw out Escobar attempting to steal second for the second out and Cano robbed DeJesus of a single with a smooth play to end the inning.
george.king@nypost.com