A look at a potential fringe benefit of O's current catching situation

With Matt Wieters back on the active roster as of June 5, and catching every other day, both Orioles catchers will now get some extra rest and perhaps their productivity on offense will increase.

By having a two-headed catcher situation, the Orioles may see kind of an unintended result here: that both catchers stay fresher as the long season goes on. It could benefit their offense.

Caleb Joseph's bat certainly looked like it had some extra life last night as he had a double, solo homer and single in the 11-3 win over the Yankees. He went 3-for-4 to up his average to .248.

"I took a few extra hacks yesterday to try and iron some things out," Joseph said after the win. "The luxury of having Matt back is having some time to figure some stuff out. Glad to contribute offensively, but more proud of being able to hold them to three runs, help Ubaldo (Jimenez) get through that (tough first) inning and win that ballgame."

In seven games this season against Yankees pitching, Joseph is feasting. He's batting .560 (14-for-25) with two doubles, a triple, two homers and five RBIs. He has a slugging percentage of .960 with an OPS of 1.537 against the Yankees in 2015.

After the Orioles had beaten Michael Pineda last night - and he had 14 fewer strikeouts in that game then he had May 10 against the Orioles - I was reminded of this pregame quote yesterday from Chris Davis. He was asked about facing Pineda:

"We've got no shot. Might as well forfeit right now and go home and save ourselves the embarrassment," he said with a laugh.

More notes on the Orioles:

* They are 4-4 against New York this year but are 15-8 versus the Yankees since June 21, 2014. At Camden Yards, the Orioles are 3-1 against New York this year, and they've won nine of 11 and 16 of their last 22 games in the series.

* Over the last three games, the Orioles are batting .350 (36-for-103) with six doubles, five homers and 22 runs. They are 15-for-32 (.469) with RISP in that stretch after going 9-for-19 last night.

* The Orioles have won a season-high five in a row, outscoring the opposition 30-13 during that time. They are 30-30, back at the .500 mark for the first time since May 5 when they were 12-12.

* The Orioles bullpen has allowed just one run the last four games over 16 innings. In the last nine games, the O's bullpen has an ERA of 1.52.

* Going into last night's game, the Yankees were 11-4 since May 25, tied for the best record in the majors in that span.

* Davis recorded a season-high four RBIs last night, going 3-for-5 with a home run, his first game of four or more RBIs since Aug. 29, 2014 versus Minnesota, when he had four. The four RBIs are one off his career-high, set five times. Going into Friday's game, Davis was just 3-for-27 with 17 strikeouts this season against New York.