Yankees avoid three-game sweep against Orioles

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Desperate to escape last place and avert a three-game sweep, the New York Yankees called upon Andy Pettitte to work his usual magic against the Baltimore Orioles.

Voila!

Reaching deep into his bag of tricks, Pettitte combined efficient pitching with his masterful pickoff move to carry the Yankees to a 4-2 victory Wednesday night.

Jason Giambi, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera served as capable helpers to Pettitte (5-5), who gave up two runs and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings to improve to 24-6 lifetime against the Orioles. The left-hander is 15-4 in Baltimore, by far the winningest visiting pitcher in Camden Yards history.

"I have had a lot of opportunities to pitch against these guys and I have always been able to handle them for some reason. I've had a lot of horrible games here, too," Pettitte insisted, although the Orioles would be pressed to remember them.

"You've got to tip your cap to Pettitte. He's pitched awfully well against us, it seems like forever," manager Dave Trembley said.

Baltimore trailed 3-2 in the fifth when Brian Roberts led off with a double. He was then caught leaning too far off second and tagged out in a rundown. That proved costly, because Melvin Mora followed with a walk and took third on a double by Nick Markakis before Kevin Millar flied out.

"Yeah, that was big," Pettitte said of the move that eliminated Roberts from the basepaths.

Chamberlain struck out three and allowed one hit in 1 1/3 innings before Rivera got three outs for his 13th save in 13 tries.

Before the game, New York put starter Ian Kennedy [right shoulder] on the disabled list. That increased speculation that Chamberlain would join the starting rotation as soon as next week, but manager Joe Girardi insisted the hard-throwing reliever still needed to increase his endurance and strength.

Girardi spoke before the game about trying to get Chamberlain in for an extended stretch, but Pettitte scoffed at the suggestion.

"There would have been a fight there on the mound," Pettitte said. "He was not going to go four or five innings for us. I wanted to give us seven good innings."

Chamberlain threw 28 pitches in the game but worked hard in the bullpen before and after his performance.

"He threw 14 in the 'pen, sat down, got up and threw 13, sat down, then came in. Then he had 28 in the game, so it was like he threw 55," Girardi said.

Pressed to reveal Chamberlain's status, Girardi said, "We'll have to talk about that over the off day. The biggest concern is how he feels on Friday."

Said Chamberlain: "I am going to try and take what I have learned in the 'pen and carry it over into the game with me."

Johnny Damon had three hits for the Yankees after getting four in a 10-9 loss Tuesday night. Damon beat out a bases-loaded grounder to first base in the ninth when Jamie Walker was late covering the bag, an RBI single that gave New York a 4-2 lead.

Mora had three hits, including a two-run homer, and Roberts also had three hits for Baltimore. But the rest of the lineup went 3-for-27.

Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie (2-6) allowed three runs and six hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking none. Baltimore has scored only eight runs in the six games he's lost this year.

"If you don't want to lose, don't give up runs. It's very simple," Guthrie said.

Said Trembley: "He pitched well again. It just so happened that Pettitte pitched better."

After the Orioles got a runner to third base with one out in the first inning and failed to score, New York went up 1-0 in the second when Hideki Matsui hit a bloop double and came home on a single by Giambi.

Mora put Baltimore ahead in the third with his seventh home run of the season and second in two nights.

Giambi tied it in the fourth with a drive that landed on Eutaw Street beyond the right-field wall. There have been 42 such homers in the 17-year history of Camden Yards; Giambi has hit three of the last five, including one Tuesday night.

New York went up 3-2 in the fifth. Melky Cabrera hit his second double of the game, advanced on a single by Damon and scored on a fly ball by Derek Jeter.

Game notes
Matsui went 2-for-4 and is 14-for-27 over his last seven games with five multihit efforts. He has scored 12 runs in that span ... The double by Markakis was the first extra-base hit off Pettitte by a left-handed batter since Markakis homered on Sept. 29. ... The Orioles were denied their first three-game sweep of New York since April 2005. ... In the series, Jeter went 2-for-12 and Alex Rodriguez went 1-for-11.