Mark Trumbo on his two-homer night; Chris Tillman on his strong start

The Orioles have now won six in a row against the New York Yankees dating to the end of last season. The club record for most consecutive wins against New York is nine in a row from Aug. 15, 1967 to May 22, 1968.

The Yankees fell to 8-16 tonight and have lost six in a row, being outscored 37-13. When asked tonight if the Orioles should try and get the Yankees while they are down, outfielder Mark Trumbo said yes.

"I think so," Trumbo said. "Unfortunately, I've been on teams that are down and you want to take care of business. You want to rack up the wins when you can. If a team is unfortunately scuffling, you want to be at your best to kind of capitalize on those opportunities."

Trumbo and the Orioles did that tonight. He produced his ninth career multi-homer game and second this season in the Orioles' 4-1 win. Trumbo hit a 95 mph Luis Severino fastball way out to left for a solo homer in the second and an 87 mph changeup for a two-run shot in the fifth inning.

"I think kind of two pitches that I normally maybe don't handle quite as well, but it ended it up working out pretty well today," he said. "It's been a lot of fun (his good start). At-bat-wise, I think I've done kind of what I was hoping to do. There are still a number of things I'd like to accomplish as we go and sure up a few mechanical things. But as far as the numbers themselves go, it's about all I can ask for."

Trumbo is batting .337 and leads the Orioles with both eight homers and 22 RBIs. He has a .612 slugging percentage and a .993 OPS. He said it is fun to hit in a lineup where no one player has to carry the load on offense.

"I think it is a big help," he said. "Getting a chance to see a few similar hitters in front of me and how they are attacking those guys can be a huge advantage if I'm hitting fifth and they have to go through Manny (Machado) and Jonsey (Adam Jones). It really is a situation where you can totally be yourself. Have your at-bats and try and contribute the way you do. You don't have to do a single ounce extra because everyone will do their part."

Right-hander Chris Tillman certainly did his part yet again tonight. Over his last three starts, Tillman is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA and 22 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings.

Tonight, he went seven innings allowing five hits and one run against the Yankees with four walks and nine strikeouts to improve to 3-1 with a 2.81 ERA. He became the second Oriole this season - joining Ubaldo Jimenez on April 7 - to pitch seven innings.

"You always want to get as deep as you possibly can and I take a lot of pride in that," Tillman said. "Early on it was a struggle with fastball command. It wasn't there but got better as the game went on. My off-speed stuff bailed me out earlier in the game.

"I think I've just been consistent with my delivery and that has helped a lot. I can get out of my delivery at times and tonight was a good example of me having to make an adjustment early."

Tillman tied for career high with the nine strikeouts for the second start in a row. That is 18 strikeouts over his last 13 2/3 innings and 33 on the year over 32 innings. Why all the strikeouts now for a pitcher that averaged 6.2 per nine innings in 2015?

"I don't know. I think it is being able to throw my off-speed for strikes," Tillman said. "I worked on it a lot last year and it never really came along for me. In spring training, I kind of had a good feel for it and have been able to carry it over. Wheaty (Matt Wieters) reminds me of it during the game. In certain counts, he is calling a breaking ball where I normally wouldn't do it and it keeps me on my toes, that's for sure."

Tillman said he has not leaned on any one secondary pitch over the others this season. But he's had all three going well in recent starts and that has helped him to pitch well and rack up strikeouts.

"I think it has been all three," he said. "My changeup is the pitch that normally gets me deep into the game and is a pitch I'm not afraid to throw in any count to any hitter. It has been a mix of all three recently. Been able to throw the cutter/slider when I need to and not necessarily in an off-speed count. But in a fastball count and that has been a big thing. My breaking ball, too."

Tillman is now 2-0 with an ERA of 1.80 in four starts at Oriole Park this season. In four starts versus the AL East, he is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.46.

Manny Machado is batting .450 (9-for-20) with four multi-hit efforts over his last five games. He went 1-for-3 with a walk and double tonight.

With Boston's 4-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox tonight, the Orioles (15-10) moved back into first place by a 1/2 game over Boston (15-11) atop the AL East.