O's game blog: Orioles are closing in on season series win over Yankees

The Orioles host the Yankees in a day-night doubleheader today as they look to reduce their magic number and to close in on a season series win over the Yankees. The Orioles are 8-3 against New York this season, winning all four series. The teams have eight games remaining and if the O's go 2-6 or better, they will win the season series for the first time since 1997. The Orioles have come close to a season series win the past two years, going 9-9 in 2012 and 9-10 last season. Since they went 8-4 in 1997, the Orioles have lost 14 and tied two season series against New York. In going 8-3 this year, the Orioles have outscored the Yankees 60-31 and pitched to a 2.95 ERA while the Yankees have an ERA of of 5.65 in the 11 games. Jonathan Schoop is batting .379 with four homers and 11 RBIs against New York to lead the O's in homers and RBIs against the Yankees. Schoop has a 1.262 OPS in the season series. Adam Jones is batting .348 with three homers and nine RBIs against the Yankees. Orioles starting pitchers have been on a roll in recent games. Over the last nine games, O's starters have pitched to an ERA of 1.70, allowing two earned runs or fewer seven times. O's starters gave up two runs over 18 1/3 innings in the series at Boston. In this afternoon's game, Kevin Gausman (7-7, 3.83 ERA) gets the start against right-hander Brandon McCarthy (6-4, 2.79 ERA with New York). Gausman gave up two runs in seven innings in his last start versus Tampa Bay and has pitched seven innings or more in his last two starts, accomplishing that for the first time in his career. McCarthy has walked just 12 and fanned 64 in 71 innings with the Yankees. He had an ERA of 1.90 in his first eight New York starts, but has a 5.21 ERA over his past three. As you can imagine, the word of Chris Davis' suspension is dominating the O's news this afternoon. Today, they play the first of 25 games without Davis as they face the Yankees.