O's game blog: Birds are 4-3 in rubber match games in 2023

The Orioles and New York Yankees have split two games in this series and play the third and rubber match game tonight in the Bronx. For the Orioles, it’s the end of a six-game AL East road trip where they have gone 3-0 at Toronto and 1-1 in New York.

The Orioles lost two of their first three series this year but they have gone 10-1-1 in series play since, losing only to Atlanta and splitting four with the Los Angeles Angels. They are 3-0-1 in their past four series and 3-2 in AL East series, winning their last three.

The Birds are 10-7 on the year in AL East games and are 8-3 in their past 11 division games.

They are 4-3 this season in rubber match games, which breaks down this way:

* Lost 9-5 at Boston

* Lost 5-3 versus the Yankees

* Won 8-4 at Chicago White Sox

* Won 6-2 versus Boston

* Won 13-10 at Kansas City

* Lost 3-2 at Atlanta

* Won 2-1 versus Tampa Bay

So they are 4-1 in their last five rubber match games and they are 2-2 in road rubber match games in 2023.

The Orioles (32-17) reach the 50-game mark of their season tonight. Last night’s 9-6 win, behind that eight-run seventh inning at Yankee Stadium, was their fourth in the last five games and they have also won six of eight, 10 of 14, 15 of 23 and 23 of their last 33 games.

The Baltimore offense has produced 14 runs on 17 hits this series, going 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position. They have scored five runs or more in each game of the 4-1 road trip, scoring 34 runs in Toronto and New York. And they have scored 54 runs in the last nine games.

AL team leaders, runs per game

6.33 – Texas
5.96 – Tampa Bay
5.24 – Boston
5.18 – Orioles

The Yankees rank seventh at 4.67 runs per game.

The Birds have mashed some homers lately, hitting two more last night. They have hit two or more seven times in the last nine games, hitting 17 total in that span. The Yankees have hit a bunch of homers in recent games as well and have hit 24 in their last 11 games and 38 in the last 17.

New York (30-21) had a five-game win streak snapped Wednesday and is three games behind the second-place Orioles. But the Yankees have still won seven of nine and 15 of their last 21 games. They are 10-9 in AL East games.

Coming off a big outing at Toronto, right-hander Kyle Gibson (5-3, 4.27 ERA) will try to pitch the O’s to a series win tonight. Friday at Rogers Centre, he allowed five hits and one run over seven innings on 95 pitches. The Orioles are 6-4 in his 10 starts in 2023.

He has allowed two earned runs or less five times, throwing six innings or more six times with five quality starts. Gibson is 1-6 with a 6.75 ERA in 10 career games against New York.

Yankees right-hander Clarke Schmidt (2-4, 6.00 ERA) will make his 11^th start. On the year over 45 innings he has allowed 57 hits with a 1.622 WHIP, a 3.2 walk rate and a 10.8 K rate. The Yankees are 4-6 in his starts.

While his ERA is high, it’s a bit better in May (4.95) where he allowed seven runs in one game and two runs each in the other three games.

Both these pitchers have poor numbers against lefty batters but better versus right. Gibson allows a .325 average and .924 OPS against lefties while the numbers are .227/.587 versus right. Schmidt allows a .356 average and 1.074 OPS against left and .263/.733 against right-handed hitters.