The Orioles received three straight quality starts from their rotation in their last series against the Blue Jays. Dylan Bundy tossed 5 2/3 scoreless innings last night against the Yankees.
They hand the ball tonight to Kevin Gausman, who's registered a 0.98 ERA this season in four starts versus the Yankees.
All of the home runs are nice, but it's about the pitching. Same as always.
Gausman has won his last three starts and hasn't permitted a run in the last two, covering 13 innings. He struck out 41 batters last month in 36 2/3 innings.
Gausman blanked the Yankees over seven innings in his last start, didn't issue a walk and struck out nine. He tossed eight scoreless innings and allowed only three hits on May 5. He's surrendered three runs over 27 2/3 innings against them in 2016.
Pretty good, right?
Brian McCann is 4-for-22 against Gausman and Jacoby Ellsbury is 4-for-25. Brett Gardner is 7-for-22 with two doubles and a home run.
There's no innings limit on Gausman this season. Bundy is up to 90 2/3 innings and we're in the first week of September. With the expanded roster and two scheduled off-days this month, manager Buck Showalter could find ways to give him extra rest.
"Nobody's carrying the bullets they were carrying, but with him there are so many unknowns and you do watch," Showalter said. "I'll tell you what he's done. His maturity level has been so impressive. He's not going to say, 'I feel great.' He'll tell us what he's feeling, and that's one of the reasons we went down this road the way we did it out of spring. I think he's been through enough on the other side where he's not going to do something ...
"What's tough this time of year is the players all know how important these games are and they want to be there. Like, when Chris (Tillman) comes to us, or we see that he's got an issue, you know that it's bothering him for him not to take the ball. You've got to be careful with Dylan there, too, but he's pretty sincere and honest about it with us. But you don't assume that. You do watch him.
"Should you be watching him more than somebody else? No. But you certainly know the history of it."
The Orioles have a history with Yankees left-hander CC Sabathia, who's making his 38th career start against them. He's 19-9 with a 3.35 ERA
Sabathia is 1-2 with a 2.49 ERA in four starts against the Orioles this season. He's 11-6 with a 3.51 ERA in 22 career starts at Camden Yards.
Caleb Joseph moved behind the plate last night in the eighth inning. Will Matt Wieters get the start tonight despite being 7-for-46 (.152) with 12 strikeouts against Sabathia? Showalter has three catchers on his roster.
Chris Davis is 8-for-42 (.190) with a home run and 20 strikeouts against Sabathia, but Nolan Reimold is 14-for-41 (.341) with a double, triple and two home runs.
Last night's 8-0 win represented the Orioles' largest shutout over the Yankees in Baltimore since Sept. 9, 1991, when they also posted an 8-0 victory behind Bob Milacki, who allowed five hits while going the distance.
Adam Jones is 30-for-89 (.337) with three doubles, three home runs, 12 RBIs and 10 runs scored over his last 22 games since Aug. 5.
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