Yankees bullpen falters in loss; Orioles avoid weekend sweep.

Byline: BEN WALKER

Orioles 7, Yankees 3: Once Yankees manager Joe Girardi started making walks to the mound, the Baltimore Orioles began running around the bases.

In position for a weekend sweep, New York let it slip away Sunday when a normally solid bullpen fell apart. J.J. Hardy and Adam Jones hit three-run homers in a seven-run seventh inning as visiting Baltimore erupted to win a matchup of wild-card contenders.

''Any time you turn to our bullpen, you feel good about it. It just didn't work out today,'' starter Andy Pettitte said.

''They send you out there to get guys out and I gave up two hits that started a rally,'' he said. ''You can't second-guess with our bullpen. We have the best bullpen in the league, in my opinion.''

Shut out on three singles Saturday, the Orioles were blanked by Pettitte for six innings before they broke loose.

Michael Morse lined a leadoff single against Pettitte to begin the comeback from a 3-0 deficit. Acquired from Seattle on Friday, he got two hits in his Baltimore debut.

Hardy's shot against Shawn Kelley (4-2) glanced off the glove of right fielder Curtis Granderson and put the Orioles ahead 4-3. After reliever Boone Logan gave up a bunt single and walk, Jones homered to dead center field came against Joba Chamberlain.

''I'm not comfortable letting Andy go over 100 pitches. He was getting up there in pitches and they had just squared two in a row, so it was time to make the change and it didn't work out,'' Girardi said.

The seven runs matched the Orioles' biggest inning of the season. It also tied the most allowed by the Yankees in an inning this year.

The Yankees had beaten Baltimore two in row while extending their home winning streak to six. New York had been 32-0 at home this year when leading by at least two runs, the Elias Sports Bureau said in research provided by the Yankees.

Rookie Kevin Gausman (2-3) pitched two scoreless innings after starter Wei-Yin Chen walked a career-high five on a sticky afternoon. Gausman's other win came against the Yankees on June 28 with 4 1/3 scoreless innings.

Four Baltimore relievers combined for five shutout innings.

Brett Gardner doubled twice and drew a bases-loaded walk for the Yankees. But Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter each struck out three times and Alfonso Soriano was thrown out at first on a sensational play by charging third baseman Manny Machado.

Twins 4, Rangers 2: Kevin Correia pitched seven strong innings and Minnesota clinched its first series victory...