After battling back to take the final two games of a four-game set versus the Boston Red Sox, the Orioles are set to host their long-time rivals, the New York Yankees, for a three-game clash at Camden Yards.
The Orioles (30-22) come into the series just a game behind the Red Sox (32-22) for first place in the AL East. While the last few weeks haven’t been glamorous for the O’s, going 7-10 in their last 17 games and 4-7 in their last 11, they still boast a sparkling 19-10 record in front of the Camden faithful. The team morale should be skyrocketing after exploding for 25 runs over the last two games versus Boston, which included a season-high seven homers on Thursday night.
The Yankees (25-28) have pulled out of the doldrums of April, and have showed nice resiliency to battle back in order to salvage their season from going down the tubes early on this year. With that being said, the fourth-place Bronx Bombers are still 6.5-games back from the first place Red Sox and are 4-6 in their last ten. On the year, the Yanks boast a 12-16 record away from Yankee Stadium.
Now, let’s take a look at the slated starters:
Orioles ace Chris Tillman (7-1, 2.92 ERA) is set to take on Nathan Eovaldi (6-2, 3.71 ERA) in the series opener on Friday.
The 28-year-old Tillman has been sensational for the O’s through the first two months of the campaign and looks dialed in to make his second career mid-summer classic if everything stays steady. Tillman is 7-6 with a 4.68 ERA over 17 career starts versus the Yankees, and will be looking to pick up where he left off against them in his previous start on May 3rd, in which the California native allowed just one run on five hits over seven stellar innings with four walks and nine punch-out’s in the O’s 4-1 victory.
Eovaldi, 26, has been on arguably the best stretch of his career, going 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA over his last three outings and comes into Friday’s game with a five-game unbeaten streak.
The former Marlin went 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA over three starts against the Birds in 2015 despite having never faced them previously. In his last start versus the O’s on July 21st, 2015, Eovaldi allowed two runs on four hits over 5.2 innings with three walks and four Ks but received the no-decision in the Yankees 3-2 victory.
Tyler Wilson (2-4, 3.83 ERA) will take the mound against Ivan Nova (3-3, 3.98 ERA) in the middle game of the series on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Wilson is 0-1 with an impressive 1.93 ERA over two games (one start) versus the Yanks and has held Yankee hitters to a paltry .206 batting average during that span. However, the Virginia native took a loss in his only start versus New York on May 4th despite allowing just two runs on four hits over six solid innings with three walks and four strikeouts in the 7-0 Yankees win.
Nova, 29, has had an up-and-down track record versus Baltimore, going 6-4 with a 5.07 ERA over 15 games (14 starts) in his career. In his last start versus the O’s on October 3rd, 2015, the Dominican hurler allowed five runs on eight hits over 5.2 innings with three walks and four punch-outs in a 9-2 Orioles victory.
Kevin Gausman (0-3, 3.78 ERA) will be looking to bounce back from a rough last few outings versus southpaw CC Sabathia (3-4, 2.85 ERA) in the series closer on Sunday afternoon.
Gausman will be looking to FINALLY get in the win column against a team he’s silenced with regularity over his career as the 25-year-old flamethrower is 3-2 with a superb 2.31 ERA and 0.98 WHIP over 12 games (six starts) versus the Yankees.
Gausman was spectacular against the Yanks on May 5th, allowing just three hits over eight beautiful shutout innings with zero walks and four Ks, but was cruelly no-decisioned in the O’s 1-0 win.
Sabathia has owned the O’s since making his debut against them fifteen years ago and comes into the series on a phenomenal run of form in the middle of a resurgent season for the 35-year-old veteran. Sabathia is 1-2 with a 1.42 ERA over his last three starts.
In 34 career starts versus Baltimore, the six-time All-Star is 19-7 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.16 WHIP and was stellar in his last start against the O’s on May 4th, scattering six hits over seven shutout innings with two walks and six strikeouts in the 7-0 Yanks victory.
Now, let’s take a look at the tale of the tape:
While the O’s, led by Manny Machado (.318, 21 2B, 14 HR, 34 RBI) and Mark Trumbo (.288, 8 2B, 17 HR, 42 RBI) along with the red-hot Adam Jones (.242, 8 2B, 7 HR, 26 RBI), Jonathan Schoop (.265, 10 2B, 8 HR, 30 RBI) and Matt Wieters (.281, 7 2B, 4 HR, 20 RBI) have boasted an offense that ranks 6th in the AL in team average (.260), 5th in runs per game (4.6), 3rd in OBP (.325) and 2nd in HR (76), they will be facing a club that has had literally almost no run production this season in the Yankees.
It isn’t often that you see the Bronx Bombers ranked 12th in the AL in HR (52), tied for 14th in runs per game (3.7) and last in team batting average (.232) and OBP (.298).
Carlos Beltran, 39, has been their biggest star on offense this season. The eight-time All-Star is hitting .270 with 12 2B, 12 HR, and 31 RBI. Three-time All-Star SS Starlin Castro (.245, 9 2B, 7 HR, 21 RBI) has been up-and-down this season but still solid, while Jacoby Ellsbury (.281, 8 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 11 SB) is back to All-Star form and Seven-time All-Star catcher Brian McCann has seven homers and 21 RBI on the year, but is batting just .224 at the plate.
But the rest of the line-up has been horrid, highlighted by the struggles of Brett Gardner (.211, 5 HR, 12 RBI), Mark Teixeira (.181, 3 HR, 12 RBI), Chase Headley (.232, 3 HR, 11 RBI) and Alex Rodriguez (.177, 6 HR, 14 RBI).
Needless to say, the New York mob media isn’t pleased. If it continues, it will be boos, not home runs, that will be raining down at Yankee Stadium this summer.
After taking two of three against the Yanks back in April, the O’s come into the imminent three-game battle with New York boasting a 43-35 record versus the Bombers since the start of the 2012 campaign.
Here’s to racking up a few more W’s against the Yanks at Camden this weekend!
