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Yankees, Orioles wrap up series Sunday night
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 7/12/2014  at  2:48:00 AM
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NEW YORK YANKEES

at BALTIMORE ORIOLES

First pitch: Sunday, 8:15 p.m. ET
Line: TBD

An AL East battle finishes up on Sunday night as the Yankees and Orioles play the final game before the All-Star break.

The Yankees have struggled this season at getting past the .500 mark as 80% of their opening day roster is currently on the disabled list, with superstar rookie Masahiro Tanaka being the latest victim. New York have split their last 10 games (5-5) coming into this series and sit four games behind the AL East leading Orioles. They most recently split four games in Cleveland to start the week and were unable to get a series win despite taking a 3-0 lead into the seventh inning on Thursday before losing 9-3. OF Jacoby Ellsbury (.284) has been hot leading up to this series with four multi-hit performances in his last ten games while also hitting two home runs (7 RBI) in that time. Baltimore has been white-hot lately as they have taken a lead in the East division after coming away with a victory in eight of their last 10 games before Friday. They defeated their NL rivals, the Washington Nationals, in 2-of-3 games earlier this week as they pulled out a close 4-3 win on Thursday. OF Steve Pearce (.322) hit his 11th homer of the year in the contest while OF Nelson Cruz (.291) added his league leading 74th RBI. Cruz has gone off in his last five games, compiling 12 hits in 23 at-bats (.522) with two home runs, six RBI and five runs. The Yanks are struggling to find starting pitching at the moment and as of Friday had still not figured out who would face off against RHP Chris Tillman (7-4, 4.11 ERA) of the Orioles in this one. Up until Thursday, New York has actually been a much better road team, going 28-22 in away games while Baltimore is just a few games above .500 (24-22) at home. This matchup has been extremely even over the past three seasons and coming into this series these clubs have split their last 48 games (24-24) while the Yankees are 11-10 in Baltimore.

The starter for this game on the Yankees side has yet to be determined. Whoever does toe the rubber for the bombers will have his work cut out for him as OF Nelson Cruz is tied for the lead league in HR (28) and has more RBI (74) than anyone else. Also, OF Steve Pearce has been amazing for the team as he has already compiled career highs in average (.322), HR (11) and RBI (31) while benefiting from some luck (.356 BABIP). The trouble does not end there since 3B Manny Machado (.267) has gone 17-for-42 (.405) with five home runs, eight RBI and seven RBI over his last 10 games. One player that has not been able to live up to his high expectations has been 1B Chris Davis (.202) who has just five hits (.128) while striking out 17 times in his last 10 games played. Before Friday, the Yankees bullpen has gone 12-16 with a 3.91 ERA (1.31 WHIP) while successfully saving 30-of-42 (71%) games. David Robertson (2.84 ERA, 22 saves) has blown just two saves this year while striking out 57 batters in 31.2 innings on the mound (16.2 K/9).

Chris Tillman has really not been too impressive this season as he has seen his strikeout rate drop from 7.8 K/9 in 2013 to a miniscule 5.6 K/9 this year. Surprisingly, as his strikeouts have gone down, his walks have gone up, hitting an above league average mark of 3.6 BB/9 while he has allowed 12 home runs in 111.2 innings (0.97 HR/9). Tillman has been able to put it together over his last six starts, though, as he has allowed three or fewer earned runs in each outing while going 2-2 and getting just 15 strikeouts in 40.2 IP (3.3 K/9). His last time out was his best start in a while as he went seven innings while giving up five hits and two runs with six strikeouts (1 walk) in a no-decision against the Nationals. Tillman has not done well against the Yankees in his career, going 5-4 over 11 starts with a 5.83 ERA (1.72 WHIP) and has given up eight home runs in his 54.0 innings when facing them. Kelly Johnson (4-for-12, 1 HR, 3 RBI), OF Jacoby Ellsbury (7-for-23, 2 2B, 1 HR, 1 RBI) and SS Derek Jeter (6-for-16, 2 RBI) have done very well in this matchup while OF Ichiro Suzuki (4-for-21) has not been able to figure out Tillman. The Orioles’ relievers have combined to go 16-13 with a 3.44 ERA (1.25 WHIP) as they are 28-for-40 (70%) in save opportunities. Zach Britton (1.33 ERA, 15 saves) has two blown saves on the year while having an incredible 78.5% of batters hit groundballs with his nasty sinker.


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