Alex Rodriguez made history Saturday night by becoming only the second player to surpass the 2,000 RBI mark since the run batted in became an official statistic in 1920. Rodriguez hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to reach the milestone. However, the blast was not enough as the Baltimore Orioles (31-30) won big over the New York Yankees (33-28) 9-4 thanks in large part to Manny Machado, who drove in four runs himself.

With his team trailing 4-2 with no one out in the top of the sixth, Rodriguez stepped up with Chase Headley on first base. "A-Rod" lined a 1-2 fastball from Baltimore's Bud Norris over the center-field fence for a two-run home run (12) to tie the game at 4-4.

Rodriguez now has 2,001 RBI in his 21-year career, which officially ranks second behind only the legendary Hank Aaron on the all-time list.

MLB.com's Bryan Hoch reminds us that the RBI became an official statistic in 1920. Major League Baseball uses the Elias Sports Bureau as its source for official statistics. However, MLB.com does not, leading to discrepancies among statisticians as to who ranks second -- A-Rod or Babe Ruth. Hoch writes,

"Due to the uncertain nature of record-keeping in the early part of the 20th century, some discrepancies may exist between the stats provided today by different historical data providers.

MLB.com utilizes different statistics than Elias. By MLB.com's count, Rodriguez is third on the all-time RBI list behind Aaron (2,297) and Ruth (2,213). MLB.com takes into account RBIs accumulated by Ruth before 1920." 

Ruth drove in 224 runs from 1915-1919 before the RBI became an official statistic. He did not drive in any runs in his 10 plate appearances in 1914.

Rodriguez was 1 for 5 on the night, including a strikeout to end the game. He now has 2,995 hits, just five shy of 3,000. He should reach that milestone within a few more days barring a slump or injury.

Meanwhile, Machado's performance upstaged A-Rod's. Machado drove a two-run home run of his own (11) in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 4-2 Baltimore. He later added a two-run single to make it 7-4 in favor of the Orioles. Machado was 3 for 5 with 4 RBI and 2 R on the night.

Baltimore also got a two-run home run from Nolan Reimold (11) in the third to tie the game at 2-2 and a solo shot from David Lough (2) in the seventh to make it 8-4. Baltimore also scored single runs on J.J. Hardy's single in the sixth and Steve Pearce's double in the eighth.

New York scored the game's first two runs in the first inning on Mark Teixeira's run-scoring single and Brian McCann's RBI double.

Chaz Roe (W: 2-0, 1,17 ERA) picked up the win in relief of Norris. He finished the sixth and pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth in his 2 1/3 innings. He allowed three hits and struck out two. Norris lasted 5 2/3 innings, allowing four earned runs on eight hits while striking out two and serving up A-Rod's home run.

Chris Martin (L: 0-2, 5.27) took the loss in relief of CC Sabathia. Martin pitched one inning, the sixth, and allowed three earned runs on four hits. Sabathia struggled once again. He allowed four earned runs on eight hits in five innings. He struck out three and gave up Reimold's and Machado's home runs.

The loss is the Yankees' third straight, and, coupled with the Tampa Bay Rays' (34-29) win, it puts those two teams in a tie atop the A.L. East with the Yankees leading by one percentage point. Baltimore is in fourth place but only two games behind with the Toronto Blue Jays ahead of them by one game.

The series concludes Sunday with Adam Warren (4-4, 3.64) pitching for New York. Baltimore manager Buck Showalter has not named his Sunday starter as of late Saturday night.