Nathan Eovaldi’s return to the rotation went smoothly until Tuesday night’s sixth inning, when he required help.
And that aid wasn’t coming from any of the Big Three in the Yankees’ bullpen.
Carrying a 4.70 ERA over his first 12 appearances in pinstripes, veteran right-hander Anthony Swarzak came to the rescue in a 7-1 win against the first-place Orioles at Yankee Stadium before 31,192 fans.
Starlin Castro drove in four runs with a two-run homer in the second and a two-run double in the sixth, boosting the Yankees (47-46) to their third straight win and cutting another game off Baltimore’s AL East lead.
The Orioles (53-39) have a 6{ game edge on the Yanks, who are still straddling the buy-or-sell line as the Aug. 1 non-waiver trade deadline approaches.
Eovaldi (8-6) has been linked to interest by the Pirates and Rangers, and he earned generally good marks for Tuesday’s 51/3 innings. He was charged with one run on four hits and two walks.
But Joey Rickard’s RBI double cut the lead to 3-1 in the sixth and Eovaldi exited with the bases loaded and one out.
Enter Swarzak, who retired Mark Trumbo – MLB’s home run leader with 28 – on a foul out to Rob Refsnyder, who made a terrific one-handed catch near the rail after a long run. And Jonathan Schoop fouled out to Didi Gregorius to end the inning.
After manager Joe Girardi had used Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman on both Sunday and Monday night to win games against the Red Sox and O’s, Swarzak delivered 22/3 scoreless innings and did not give up a hit or a walk on Tuesday.
Castro’s two-run homer came off O’s starter Vance Worley (2-1), charged with three runs in 41/3 innings. Chase Headley belted a two-run shot in the eighth.
And once again, the Yanks have dipped a toe past the.500 mark.
“We’ve been here so many times and we haven’t been able to break through,” Girardi said before the game. “It’s been frustrating because I feel like if we can get over that mark we can build on it.”
After Eovaldi won a career-high five straight starts in May, his stretch of six straight poor starts began at Baltimore on June 3. Eovaldi went 0-4 in those six starts, pitching to a 9.20 ERA and yielding 12 home runs in just 301/3 innings. The final straw was on July 1, when Eovaldi couldn’t get out of the fifth inning at San Diego.
Bumped to the bullpen, Eovaldi made three scoreless relief appearances – finishing with 41/3 scoreless innings July 10 at Cleveland and earning the win in relief of Masahiro Tanaka.
“I thought his split was pretty good against Cleveland,” Girardi said before the game. “And I think that’s a pretty big pitch for him.”
The splitter might have kept the Orioles off Eovaldi’s straight fastball, but the right-hander recorded only one strikeout Tuesday night.
Still, Girardi said his faith in Eovaldi’s ability never has wavered. “We’ve seen him give us distance, we’ve seen him be dominant,” Girardi said. “And I think he can do it again.”
On the visitor’s side, Worley was making his first start since April 15 as he was plucked from the bullpen to replace the struggling Ubaldo Jimenez.
With two out in the second inning, Gregorius patiently worked a 10-pitch at-bat into a walk and Castro followed by belting his 11th homer of the year. Castro’s shot over the left field wall, on a 3-and-1 pitch, gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead.
Refsnyder walked and stole second base in the fifth to set up Ellsbury’s RBI single for a 3-0 lead.

RESULTS
NY Yankees 7 Baltimore 1
LA Dodgers 8 Washington 4
Miami 2 Philadelphia 1 (10 innings)
Pittsburgh 3 Milwaukee 2
NY Mets 2 Chicago Cubs 1
Minnesota 6 Detroit 2
Atlanta 5 Cincinnati 4 (11 innings)
Boston 4 San Francisco 0
Cleveland 7 Kansas City 3
Tampa Bay 10 Colorado 1
Toronto 5 Arizona 1
Oakland 4 Houston 3
(10 innings)
LA Angels 8 Texas 6
Chicago White Sox 6 Seattle 1