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Orioles try to inch closer to playoffs on Sunday
By: Staff Writer - StatFox
Published: 9/14/2014  at  2:42:00 AM
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NEW YORK YANKEES (76-71)

at BALTIMORE ORIOLES (88-60)

First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: Baltimore -145, New York +130, Total: 7.5

The Orioles, who have a stranglehold on the AL East, host the rival Yankees on Sunday night.

New York has been hampered by injuries to its pitching staff all season long, but surprisingly that has not been the biggest issue, as the offense has scored the 11th-fewest runs (571) entering the weekend. In their recent homestand, the Yankees were 5-4 as they won a series against both the Rays and Red Sox. Over their past two games against Tampa Bay they scored 13 runs and took the rubber match on Thursday by a 5-4 score after OF Chris Young (.218 BA) provided a walk-off, three-run homer. The newly acquired outfielder has given the team much-needed offense in the past three contests, going 6-for-11 with two homers, 7 RBI and four runs. Baltimore has dominated the league this year and ranks in the top-10 in runs (638) while leading the league in homers (192) by a large margin. The O's have built up their AL East lead to double-digits after going 13-4 over their past 17 games, including a sweep of the Red Sox most recently. They went into Fenway Park and outscored Boston 18-7 over three games while capping off the series with a 10-6 victory. MLB home-run leader OF Nelson Cruz (.263 BA, 39 HR) has raised his batting average nine points over the past 10 games entering Friday, in which he is 15-for-41 (.366) with four home runs, 12 RBI and nine runs. This contest’s pitching matchup will feature RHP Hiroki Kuroda (10-9, 3.91 ERA) for the Yankees as he attempts to outduel RHP Chris Tillman (12-5, 3.36 ERA) of the host team. Going into this series, New York has played decent on the road with a record of 37-34 (.521), but will have a tough task ahead, as Baltimore is an excellent 43-28 (.606, 6th in MLB) at Camden Yards. The Yankees have not been able to avoid the steamroller that is the Orioles this year as they have lost 8-of-11 contests following Thursday’s action against their division rivals in 2014 while Baltimore holds a 28-25 (.528) edge in the matchup over the past three years. The Orioles found out Friday morning that they will be without 1B Chris Davis (26 HR, 72 RBI) for the next 25 games (including postseason) after he tested positive for amphetamines.

Hiroki Kuroda has continued to be a consistent MLB starting pitcher despite being 39 years old, and has never posted an ERA over 4.00 in his seven-year career. His strikeout rate (6.3 K/9) has dropped in each of the past five seasons, but he has combated that with career-best control (1.8 BB/9). He has given the Yanks a quality start in seven of his past 10 outings, but did pitch very poorly against the Rays his last time out. He went a mere 3.1 frames while allowing four runs on nine hits with five strikeouts (zero walks) in a losing effort against them. Overall against Baltimore, Kuroda is 3-3 with a 3.07 ERA and 0.90 WHIP in his career, but he has struck out a meager 5.5 batters per nine innings and allowed seven homers in 58.2 IP (1.07 HR/9). He has actually not given up a long ball to them in his three starts this year (19.1 IP) while going 1-0 with a 2.79 ERA. OF Alejandro De Aza (6-for-15, 1 HR, 2 RBI) has looked great in his career against the righty, while 3B Kelly Johnson (8-for-23, 2 doubles, 1 HR, 3 RBI) has as well. On the other hand, OF Nelson Cruz and SS J.J. Hardy have combined to go 6-for-47 (.128) with seven strikeouts in the matchup. New York’s bullpen enters Friday with a 23-24 record, but a strong 3.48 ERA and 1.21 WHIP while saving 43-of-60 (72%) games coming into this series. Closer David Robertson (2.77 ERA, 35 saves) is striking out batters at a career-high rate (13.7 K/9) and has allowed just one hit and zero walks with eight strikeouts in his past five appearances (5.1 IP).

Chris Tillman has been an important piece of this impressive Orioles ballclub in 2014 and is 37-15 since the start of the 2012 season while posting and ERA better than 3.75 each year. Batters can never seem to square him up as he is striking out a mere 6.4 batters per nine innings but have hit below .269 BABIP in each of the past three years (.261 in 2014). Tillman has not allowed more than three earned runs in any of his outings since June 5 (18 starts) and has given the team 14 quality starts in that timeframe. Baltimore has won nine straight games that Tillman has started, with the right-hander posting a 2.06 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 7.9 K/9 rate during this streak. In his 13 career starts against New York, Tillman is 5-5 with a 5.32 ERA and 1.60 WHIP, but has improved over his outings this year (3 starts) with a 2.18 ERA in 20.2 frames despite striking out only nine batters (3.9 K/9). SS Derek Jeter (8-for-23, 3 RBI) and 1B Mark Teixeira (8-for-16, 1 RBI) have done very well when facing Tillman in their careers while OF Ichiro Suzuki is 4-for-24 (.167) with two strikeouts in his time against the 26-year-old. Coming into this series, the Orioles relievers are 26-19 (.578) with a 3.25 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, and have successfully saved 49-of-68 (72%) games. Zach Britton (1.79 ERA, 34 saves) has been tremendous in the closer role while benefiting from batters hitting just .217 BABIP against him as he has forced a groundball 77.1% of the time with his nasty sinkerball.


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