Neil Walker, Luke Voit heroes in Yankees' 10-inning win over Orioles

Yankees were down two runs in the eighth inning, but rallied for a 7-5 win in 10 innings on Friday night in Baltimore.

BALTIMORE — All season long the Yankees have been playing down their struggles against the worst-in-baseball Baltimore Orioles.

There standard line has been, “they’re still big leaguers.”

Aroldis Chapman out at least until mid-September

Against everyone else, the Orioles are hopelessly pathetic.

Against the Yankees, they’ve been tough.

They were tough again Friday night at Oriole Park.

This time, the Yankees stared down defeat trailing in the late innings, then rallied to pull out a 7-5 victory in 10 to take the opener of a four-game series.

Down 4-2, the Yankees tied the game in the eighth on a two-run single by Gleyber Torres, then they took their first lead in the 10th on a homer by Neil Walker and Luke Voit added insurance by hitting a two-run shot, his second of the night.

From there, Zach Britton pitched around allowing two-out homer to Chris Davis in the 10th to close out the Orioles in his first game at Oriole Park since he was traded by Baltimore to the Yankees on July 24.

With one down in the Yankees’ 10th, Walker hit a tie-breaking homer to right-center off Cody Carroll, a rookie right-hander who went to Baltimore in the Britton trade.

Starting at first base over slumping regular Greg Bird, Voit was 3-for-5 with two homers and four RBIs, the homers his first since he joined the Yankees in a trade last month from the St. Louis Cardinals.

With both clubs wearing alternate jerseys for Players Weekend, the Yankees improved to 7-6 on the season against the 37-91 Orioles.

The Orioles positioned themselves for another win in the seventh Jonathan Villar broke a 2-2 tie by hitting a two-run homer off Yankees reliever David Robertson.

Suddenly down two runs with the game in the late innings, the Yanks came right back in the eighth.

The Yankees loaded the bases with one out, then Torres hit a game-tying, two-run single to right off righty Mychal Givens, the Orioles’ third pitcher of the inning.

The Yankees got a good start from left-hander CC Sabathia, who came off the disabled list and allowed two runs over six innings.

Back after being shelved for 11 days due to right knee inflammation, Sabathia gave up three hits in the first, then just two more over his final five innings. He was pulled with his pitch count at just 88.

NOTABLE

— Robertson’s outing was his first in a week, as he had been nursing some mild shoulder soreness.

— Center fielder Aaron Hicks was 0-for-5 with a strikeout and now is 2-for-21 over his last six games.

— Catcher Gary Sanchez will begin a rehab assignment on Saturday in Tampa as a DH in a Gulf Coast League game.

— Sabathia wound up with a no-decision to remain winless in his last 10 starts against the Orioles since last winning on June 5, 2016.

LOOKING AHEAD

Saturday, Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, Game 1, 1:05 p.m., YES. LHP J.A. Happ (14-6, 3.84) vs. RHP Andrew Cashner (4-11, 4.84) or RHP Jimmy Yacabonis (0-1, 6.75).

Saturday, Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, Game 2, 7:05 p.m., WPIX. RHP Sonny Gray (9-8, 5.34) vs. RHP Andrew Cashner (4-11, 4.84) or RHP Jimmy Yacabonis (0-1, 6.75).

Sunday, Yankees at Baltimore Orioles, 8:05 p.m., ESPN. RHP Luis Severino (16-6, 3.28) vs. RHP Dylan Bundy (7-12, 5.31).

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.