NEW YORK | How&#8217;s this for strange?</p><p>The Royals found success Friday night, in the least likely of places, when the greatest closer of all time threw a wild pitch in the ninth inning that scored the winning run in a 4-3 victory over the New York Yankees.</p><p>That&#8217;s right, Mariano Rivera buried a fastball after two hits earlier in the inning had put runners at first and third.</p><p>Oh, there was a lot more, too.</p><p>Royals closer Joakim Soria had to survive a wild ride in the Yankees&#8217; ninth before securing his 33rd save in 35 opportunities by retiring Jason Giambi with the bases loaded.</p><p>&#8220;In baseball,&#8221; Soria said, &#8220;nothing is easy. And here, something always happens here.&#8221;</p><p>For the Royals, that something is usually bad. They entered Friday with just 11 victories in their last 58 games at Yankee Stadium despite managing a 2-2 split here in June.</p><p>&#8220;We got a little luck to go along with their luck,&#8221; manager Trey Hillman said. &#8220;Strange things happen in this ballpark. Everybody knows that.&#8221;</p><p>Let&#8217;s work backward.</p><p>Pinch hitter Wilson Betemit opened the Yankees&#8217; ninth inning with a squib single up the third-base line, but Soria picked off pinch runner Justin Christian just before delivering a full-count pitch to Johnny Damon.</p><p>The pickoff took the air out of the sellout crowd for the second time in a matter of minutes. Damon then grounded out to short before Derek Jeter extended the game with a two-out single to right.</p><p>Soria walked Bobby Abreu before Alex Rodriguez loaded the bases with, incredibly, another squib single. This one died between the plate and the mound.</p><p>&#8220;Whatever happens,&#8221; Soria said, &#8220;you still have to get outs.&#8221;</p><p>Finally, the game ended when Giambi sent a soft fly into center field, which held up long enough for Mitch Maier to make a routine catch.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve played with Mitch for a couple of years now,&#8221; infielder Mike Aviles said. &#8220;He gets pretty good reads.&#8221;</p><p>The Royals nicked Rivera, 4-5, for the winning run in the top of the ninth after Esteban German rammed a one-out double into the right-center gap. Maier moved German to third with an infield single.</p><p>Rivera then bounced a fastball past Aviles. The ball caromed high, and catcher Jos&#233; Molina didn&#8217;t see it initially.</p><p>&#8220;I was, like, &#8216;Come on. Let&#8217;s go,&#8217;&#8194;&#8221; Aviles said. &#8220;It was a two-seamer. He just spiked it. As soon as he released it, I could tell it was going into the dirt.&#8221;</p><p>German scored easily.</p><p>&#8220;As soon as I saw the ball bounce,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I knew I could make it for sure.&#8221;</p><p>It was Rivera&#8217;s first wild pitch of the season and only his second in the last six years.</p><p>All of that came after the Ron Mahay and Leo Nu&#241;ez had blown a two-run lead that snatched a victory away from Gil Meche. Nu&#241;ez, 4-1, got the victory after pitching a scoreless eighth.</p><p>Heavy rain and a tornado warning &#8212; yes, a tornado warning in the South Bronx &#8212; delayed the start by 1 hour, 31 minutes.</p><p>No tornadoes later, the game started, and the Royals took a 1-0 lead in the second against Andy Pettitte on Ross Gload&#8217;s sacrifice fly. Mark Teahen&#8217;s two-run double in the fifth extended the lead to 3-0.</p><p>The Yankees scored their only run against Meche on Jeter&#8217;s RBI single in the fifth. Their two-run rally in the seventh secured a no-decision for Petttitte, who allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings.</p><p>The Royals won for just the second time in nine games. They hold a 5-3 lead in the season series with two games remaining. They haven&#8217;t won a season series from the Yankees since 1999.