BALTIMORE (AP) – Alex Rodriguez did his part to keep the New York Yankees in contention for the AL East title.

Rodriguez hit his 54th homer, drove in four runs and scored twice Friday night against the Baltimore Orioles. But a rare blown save by Mariano Rivera and a Boston victory officially ended New York’s run of nine straight division titles.

Melvin Mora bunted in the winning run in the 10th inning, giving the Orioles an improbable 10-9 victory.

Rodriguez has 155 RBIs, tied with Joe DiMaggio for the 10th most in Yankees history, and the highest total since 1937. Johnny Damon also homered for New York, which became the first team in major league history to hit 200 home runs in eight consecutive seasons.

New York is assured the AL wild card and will open the playoffs at Cleveland.

The Yankees took a 9-6 lead into the bottom of the ninth, seemingly a sure thing given that New York was 85-1 when leading after eight innings and Rivera was on the mound.

But Baltimore loaded the bases with two outs, and Jay Payton tied it with a triple. Rookie Scott Moore, who already had three hits, followed with a groundout. It was Rivera’s four blown saves of the season.

, only the second since April 28.

Chad Bradford (4-7) gave up a leadoff double to Derek Jeter in the 10th but worked out of a bases-loaded jam.

In the bottom half, Tike Redman hit a one-out double off Edwar Ramirez (1-1) and took third on a passed ball. After two straight intentional walks loaded the bases, Kevin Millar struck out before Mora dropped a bunt down the third-base line, scoring Redman without a throw.

Redman had four of Baltimore’s season-high 20 hits.

Rodriguez hit a two-run homer in the third inning to reach the 1,500 RBIs mark. He doubled in a run in the fifth and came around to score his 1,500th career run, then added an RBI single in the eighth.

Mike Mussina, who probably will start Game 3 or 4 of the playoffs, gave up six runs and 11 hits in five innings.

New York went up 4-1 in the third against Jon Leicester when Jeter hit a two-run single and Rodriguez homered. Miguel Tejada hit a run-scoring groundout in the bottom half.

After the Yankees made it 7-2 in the fifth, the Orioles answered with four runs in their half on RBIs by Tejada, Aubrey Huff, Mora and Ramon Hernandez.

Damon homered in the sixth, and Rodriguez’s third hit of the game upped the lead to 9-6.

Early on, the Yankees hardly looked like a playoff team. They botched a first-inning rundown during a double steal, allowing both runners to advance, and in the second inning Jorge Posada was doubled off second base on a routine fly ball by Robinson Cano.

In the bottom half, Bobby Abreu tried to catch Payton’s sinking liner to right. The ball got past him for a triple, and Moore followed with an RBI single.

Notes: Mussina has allowed at least six runs in a game seven times this season. … Damon’s homer was the first this season and 40th in the history of Camden Yards to reach Eutaw Street beyond the right-field wall. … Moore had his first three-hit game.

AP-ES-09-28-07 2311EDT