Yanks Back on Track
A dominant performance against the Baltimore Orioles last week has helped the New York Yankees get their season back on track.
The Orioles, meanwhile, still haven’t recovered from that loss.
The Yankees look to extend their season-high winning streak to six games on Monday when they open a three-game series against Baltimore, which tries to avoid losing a season-high sixth straight.
Oddsmakers from Sportsbook.com have made New York -140 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for tonight’s game, the over/under has been set at 9 total runs (Matchup). Current public betting information shows that 84% of bets for this game have been placed on New York -140 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
New York’s poor start only got worse as it dropped a season-high fourth consecutive game with Tuesday’s 12-2 loss to the Orioles, but things began to turn around the following day with an 8-0 victory over Baltimore (24-25).
That was the first of five wins in a row for the Yankees (25-25), as they outscored opponents 41-14. They are coming off a 6-5 victory over Seattle on Sunday, rallying for four runs in the eighth inning en route to their first win in 24 games when trailing after seven.
Jose Molina drove in the wining run with a two-out double and Mariano Rivera picked up his 11th save with a perfect ninth.
"I felt like it was one of the better games we played all year," said Derek Jeter, who drew a walk to lead off the eighth. "We got contributions from everyone, especially in the eighth. We had walks. We had timely hits. We pretty much did a lot of things right."
Robinson Cano has hit .471 (9-for-19) with five doubles and seven RBIs during the win streak while Hideki Matsui has gone 8-for-16 with 10 runs. Bobby Abreu keyed the three-game sweep of Seattle, going 5-for-14 with a homer, two doubles and seven RBIs.
Alex Rodriguez had only three hits and one RBI in that series, but is 7-for-21 with two homers, three doubles and five RBIs in six games against Baltimore this season.
While New York has been surging since Thursday, the Orioles have been outscored 28-9 during their five-game skid.
Baltimore, which also lost five straight from May 3-7, had won eight of 10 before its current slide.
The Orioles fell 5-4 to Tampa Bay on Sunday as George Sherrill gave up an RBI double to Evan Longoria in the bottom of the ninth.
"Our outlook is, sooner or later, this thing is going to turn in our favor," Baltimore manager Dave Trembley said.
The pitcher that helped send the Orioles on this skid will be back on the mound for this Memorial Day matchup, with the Yankees giving the ball to Darrell Rasner (3-0, 1.89 ERA).
Rasner, who has won all three of his starts since being called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, allowed five hits and one walk while striking out a career-high six in seven shutout innings of Wednesday’s win.
Rasner’s dominance of the Orioles that day was in stark contrast to his first two career starts against them, as the right-hander was tagged for 10 runs and 13 hits in 6 2-3 innings.
Baltimore counters with Garrett Olson (3-1, 5.19), who lost to Rasner and the Yankees on Wednesday as he yielded six runs and eight hits in only 2 2-3 innings. Rodriguez homered off him while Cano went 2-for-2 with a double.
"I’d hope he learns from this," Trembley told the team’s official Web site. "I think it goes to show you he’s still got room for improvement."
Olson’s outing on Wednesday was much different than any of his first four starts of the season, as the left-hander went 3-0 with a 3.47 ERA.
Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis is hitless in his last 11 at-bats, but is 7-for-8 lifetime versus Rasner.
Baltimore leadoff hitter Brian Roberts was 2-for-4 with a triple and a run on Sunday after going hitless in his previous nine at-bats. Roberts, though, is 2-for-21 (.095) with six strikeouts against the Yankees this season.
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