Britton and Gausman talk about importance of series (O's lose 3-2)

NEW YORK - Players in the Orioles clubhouse aren't downplaying the importance of the three-game series against the Yankees that begins tonight.

It may not make or break their season, but they're familiar with the division standings and they know which team they're chasing. Getting swept would be a kick in the pennant.

"Yeah, I think we look at the whole road trip as being a pretty important road trip," said closer Zach Britton. "These guys are in first by, what, three or four games? So, yeah, you'd like to take two or three and kind of get us a little bit closer. And then playing Tampa, we've got to play them well, too. So it's not just here. We've got to have a good road trip in general and then get home and continue playing good baseball.

"This is kind of the point in the season where last year we kind of took off a little bit, so hopefully that can happen."

Kevin Gausman, who starts Wednesday night, pretty much echoed Britton's thoughts.

"I think here on out, any division series is going to be big, especially against a team that's leading it," Gausman said. "We definitely want to win the series, and I think it's one of those things that pushes you into August and September. You can set yourself up nice if you come out playing well out of the break."

The Orioles stumbled into the break, but they won the last two games in Detroit before yesterday's off-day. Do they feel better about themselves?

"Yeah, a little bit, but we need to play consistent baseball," Britton said. "Hopefully that was a sign of being a little bit more consistent, but it takes more than two wins to get on a roll, right? We're not reading too much into it. We've just got to play some good baseball here."

Winning the division last season brings added confidence to a group of players who believe they can repeat.

"Yeah, definitely," Britton said. "We know that we're capable of getting on a nice roll in the second half. I want to say it was the West Coast trip last year when we won some big games. Came back and everyone was feeling good and then we finished strong. Hopefully, we can have a good road trip and that will set us up in a good spot, but everyone in the division is playing good baseball, so it's going to take the whole second half of consistent baseball if you want to win it."

Britton earned his 24th save Saturday in Detroit, striking out two batters and lowering his ERA to 1.67. Opponents are batting .212 against him.

Earlier in the week, he earned a hold in his first All-Star Game after retiring two batters in the sixth inning. He gave up a hit and struck out a batter.

"It was cool to be around that group of guys," he said. "I had talked to guys before, like (Dellin) Betances, just spoke to him in passing, so we were able to spend some time with those guys. You try to pick their brains a little bit, but it's tough because it's two days and there's so much stuff going on, you rarely have a few moments to sit down and relax and talk."

Britton couldn't remember the last time he entered a game in the sixth inning.

"I guess the beginning of last season," he said.

"Ned Yost did a really good job of giving us an idea when we were going to pitch. He told me the sixth or seventh inning was going to be the inning he wanted to pitch me in, so just be ready. That was nice. It wasn't just a phone call, 'Hey, guess what? You're in the game.' I thought he did a really good job of keeping everybody informed, which has got to be tough to do. You want to win the game, but you don't want to injure guys."

As for tonight's game, Manny Machado led off the top of the first with a walk and was picked off first base by Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi.

Machado has a career-high 40 walks in 395 plate appearances. He's drawn eight walks in the last seven games and 12 in his last 12 games.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on Jacoby Ellsbury's double, Brett Gardner's sacrifice bunt and Alex Rodriguez's sacrifice fly.

Update: Following a 15-minute rain delay, the Yankees scored again in the bottom of the second to take a 2-0 lead. Brian McCann and Chris Young singled and Chase Headley delivered an RBI double.

Wei-Yin Chen stranded runners on second and third by getting a strikeout, pop up and bouncer. He's thrown 40 pitches in two innings.

Update II: The Orioles scored twice in the top of the sixth on two-out RBI singles by Matt Wieters and J.J. Hardy, but Didi Gregorius singled with two outs in the bottom half and scored on Brendan Ryan's double.

Yankees 3, Orioles 2

Update III: Former Oriole Andrew Miller slammed the door in the ninth and the Yankees won 3-2 in the first game of the all-important series.

The Orioles (46-46) are five games back in the American League East. They're 2-2 since the break and 12-15 in one-run games this season.