Orioles 5, Yankees 4: J.J. Hardy and Lew Ford each homered and drove in two runs as host Baltimore climbed back into a tie for first place in the American league East.

Mark Reynolds added a solo home run and Joe Saunders (2-1) worked into the sixth inning for the Orioles, who have won 11 of their last 15 games. Baltimore and New York are locked in a battle with Oakland for the two wild card spots and are two games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL East.

All was not rosy for the Orioles, who saw Nick Markakis exit the game after breaking a bone in his left thumb after being hit by a pitch from CC Sabathia (13-5). He is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.

Sabathia (13-5) struggled through 6 1/3 innings for the Yankees, who have dropped two of three in the series and seven of their last 10.

New York struck for single runs in the first and second innings on a sacrifice fly by Alex Rodriguez and an RBI double by Ichiro Suzuki.

The Orioles got those runs back in the second on a pair of one-out solo home runs. Reynolds struck first, blasting his 21st homer into the visiting bullpen in left-center field. Ford made it back-to-back shots after sending a fly ball out to the opposite field in right-center to forge a 2-2 tie.

Hardy gave Baltimore the lead in the third with an RBI double to right and made it 4-2 in the sixth by lifting a fastball from Sabathia into the front row in left, just over the leap of Suzuki. Adam Jones followed with a double and came home on Ford’s single later in the inning.

New York loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth but Orioles closer Jim Johnson got Nick Swisher to ground into a fielder’s choice and induced Mark Teixeira to ground into a game-ending double play. Teixeira slid head first into first base and was called out on a close play to give Johnson his 42nd save.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Teixeira (calf) returned to lineup after nearly two weeks and went 1-for-3 with a walk. … Swisher is 0-for-23 with nine strikeouts over the last six games. … Jones had his three-game home run streak snapped but went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to seven games. … Sabathia is winless in his last three starts