BALTIMORE — The Yankees possibly lost Brett Gardner for the rest of the season with a strained left oblique muscle Thursday night.
What they didn’t lose was ground on the Rays in the chase for the second AL wild-card ticket thanks to a riveting, 6-5, win over the Orioles in front of an announced Camden Yards crowd of 24,659.
After David Robertson flushed a three-run lead in the eighth when Danny Valencia crushed a first-pitch, center-cut fastball for a three-run homer, the Yankees gladly accepted a gift run in the ninth and turned it over to Mariano Rivera for the final three outs.
“It was a little bit of a tough situation but at the same time the guys responded and put a run on the board and that was all we needed,’’ said Rivera, who retired the deflated Orioles in order in the ninth.
According to the rules the official scorer has the authority to assign the win to Rivera since Robertson pitched briefly and ineffectively. So, even though Rivera worked in a save situation, he was given the win and not the save.
“I am fine with that,’’ Rivera, baseball’s all-time saves leader, said after working for the fourth time in five games and in his third straight.
As for the heavy workload, the 43-year-old Rivera accepts it as part of being in a tight race.
“You got to do what you got to do. There is no time to look back because we are fighting for something,’’ said Rivera, who didn’t rule himself out of pitching Friday night when the Yankees open a crucial three-game series against the Red Sox in Fenway Park. “You always feel something, like bumps and bruises. It’s not like I am Superman or something like that.’’
The victory enabled the Yankees to stay one game back of the Rays in the chase for the second AL wild-card spot with 15 tilts remaining. The Rays beat the AL East-leading Red Sox Thursday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Mark Reynolds’ two-run homer in the second, Vernon Wells’ two-run single in the third and Curtis Granderson’s solo homer in the seventh provided the 5-2 lead Robertson flushed in the eighth.
“I didn’t make enough quality pitches. I left too many pitches over the middle of the plate and got behind,’’ said Robertson, who gave up two out singles to Adam Jones and Nick Markakis after Alfonso Soriano reached over the left-field wall to rob Manny Machado of a leadoff homer. “I am supposed to shut them down and hand the ball to Mo and I didn’t do it.’’
Orioles closer Jim Johnson gave up the light-hitting Brendan Ryan’s first Yankees hit, a single to right, starting the ninth. Johnson then fielded Chris Stewart’s bunt and threw the ball into center field. Granderson advanced the runners and, while working to Alex Rodriguez, Johnson uncorked a wild pitch that scored Ryan.
“That was good fundamental baseball, it’s winning baseball, getting those bunts down,’’ Ryan said.
As bad as Robertson’s eighth was it could have been worse if not for a catch Soriano said was the best of his long career.
“Off the bat I was thinking it was going to go farther,’’ said Soriano, who timed the jump perfectly and reached his glove over the padded wall to make the grab. “At the last minute I thought I had a chance to catch the ball.’’
Now, the Yankees wait to see how long Gardner is out. He goes into an MRI tube Friday in New York and this year not many Yankees have exited the machine with encouraging news.
Still, they are alive in the middle of September and that’s all they have been asking for since the injuries hit at an alarming rate starting in January when Rodriguez underwent hip surgery.