Yankees turn a laugher into a nail-biter against Orioles

1:34 AM ET

BALTIMORE — By now, it’s pretty obvious that nothing is going to come easy for the 2016 New York Yankees, even if they right their foundering ship and fight their way back into playoff contention, something that seemed absurd to even consider just four days ago.

Case in point: Saturday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles at Camden Yards. For 6 1/2 innings, it had all the makings of one of the most uplifting wins of the year, with the Yankees riding the crest of a 7-0 lead on 13 hits.

Then, all of a sudden, Ivan Nova fell apart, and manager Joe Girardi — who thought he could get away without awakening his three-headed bullpen monster — found himself buying time for Andrew Miller with Nick Goody. Before anyone knew it, it was a one-run Yankees lead with the potential to devolve into the worst loss of the season, right on the heels of a horrible loss Friday.

But the Yankees did something they have rarely done this season: They showed some second run after giving up a big lead and tacked on another run in the ninth inning (on Alex Rodriguez’s RBI single, his third hit of the night) to escape with an 8-6 victory.

Even that came at a price. The Yankees had to sweat out the loss of catcher Austin Romine, who was struck on the left thumb by an Aroldis Chapman warmup slider that partially separated the nail from the thumb. X-rays proved negative, and it certainly could have been worse. Had Chapman been throwing his 100 mph fastball, they might still be searching for Romine’s displaced digit somewhere in the …

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