New York @ Baltimore preview
Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Last Meeting ( Jun 8, 2010 ) NY Yankees 12, Baltimore 7
The New York Yankees love traveling to Baltimore.
They own the best winning percentage .641 (91-50-1) of any American League team in the 18-year history of what is now Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
But perhaps no one looks forward to a series in Baltimore more than Nick Swisher, who will try to help the Yankees to a 10th straight win over the Orioles today.
After being held to seven runs in their previous three games, the Yankees busted out of their mini-slump with a 12-7 victory in Tuesday’s opener.
Curtis Granderson hit his second-career grand slam and Mark Teixeira snapped an 0-for-10 slide with three hits, including a two-run homer.
Swisher, however, was the star. The 29-year-old homered and matched a career high with five RBIs, including a three-run double in the six-run seventh.
Tuesday’s outcome probably didn’t shock anyone in Baltimore. The Yankees have outscored the Orioles 61-27 in winning nine of the 10 meetings this season.
Baltimore fans shouldn’t have been surprised by Swisher’s huge game, either.
The seven-year veteran has hit 14 of his 17 career homers against Baltimore on the road, and is batting .339 with 46 RBIs in 30 games at Camden Yards.
Swisher is 9-for-20 with a homer and seven RBIs there this season.
Yankees starter CC Sabathia can relate to Swisher’s success in Baltimore. He is 6-1 with a 2.91 ERA in eight starts at Camden Yards.
In addition, he has won six straight starts vs. the Orioles and is 12-1 with a 2.60 ERA in 17 outings against them.
Sabathia (5-3, 4.14) is 3-0 with a 2.78 ERA in three starts against Baltimore this season.
On Thursday, he limited them to three runs and three hits in seven innings of a 6-3 triumph, ending his longest winless streak in nearly five years.
The 2007 Cy Young Award winner had been 0-2 with a 6.28 ERA in his previous five starts - his longest winless drought since July 2005 with Cleveland.
Sabathia will look to hand the major league-worst Orioles a 12th loss in 13 games.
Baltimore (16-42), which is 1-3 under interim manager Juan Samuel, has the same record as the 1962 New York Mets after 58 games. The Mets went on to lose 120 games that year - a modern-day major league record
The Orioles can take something positive out of their latest loss, though. Baltimore’s seven runs were its highest total in 14 games.
The Orioles also hope they can get something positive out of Chris Tillman’s third start of the season.
One of the Orioles’ best pitching prospects, Tillman was rocked for four runs and five hits in 1 1/3 innings of an 11-0 loss to Boston.
Tillman went 2-5 with a 5.40 ERA in 12 starts last season.
One of those wins came against the Yankees, when he allowed four runs and nine hits in five innings with a career-high eight strikeouts in a 10-4 win last Sept. 11.