O's game blog: Bruce Zimmermann faces Yankees

In winning on Sunday versus Oakland and Monday against the New York Yankees, Orioles pitchers have allowed three runs in the two games. Baltimore pitchers have allowed 16 runs over the last five games and 27 runs the past 10.

The pitchers are doing pretty well:

* The team ERA for the season is down to 3.99, which is seventh in the American League.
* The rotation ERA is 4.71, 13th in the AL.
* The bullpen ERA is 3.08 which is fifth in both the AL and the majors.
* The O's rotation ERA is 3.67 over the past 11 games.
* The bullpen ERA is 1.41 in the last 10 games and 1.89 the last 13.
* The O's have back-to-back quality starts for the first time this season.

Can they keep it going tonight behind Baltimorean Bruce Zimmermann (1-2, 4.57 ERA)? He will make his first career start against the Yankees and his sixth career start overall.

Zimmermann has allowed 23 hits in 21 2/3 innings with two quality starts. But he is coming off his shortest outing of this season when he allowed three runs over 4 2/3 innings on Wednesday at Miami. In two home starts, he is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA. The Orioles are 1-3 when he is their starter.

Zimmermann has been throwing his fastball 47 percent at an average velocity of 91.3 mph. He uses his changeup 22 percent with his curve at 20 percent and slider 11 percent.

Right-hander Corey Kluber (0-2, 5.40 ERA) gets the start for New York. Over 15 innings in four games, he has allowed 18 hits and nine earned runs. He has a WHIP of 1.933 with a 6.6 walk rate and 8.4 strikeout rate.

Kluber won the AL Cy Young Award in both 2014 and 2017 with the Cleveland Indians and is a three-time All Star.

In his most recent start on Wednesday versus Atlanta, he allowed two hits and two runs over 4 2/3 innings, throwing 91 pitches. Lefty batters are hitting .318 with a .711 OPS against him and right-handers are batting .306/1.028. The Yankees are 1-3 when he gets the start and he is 0-1 with an ERA of 8.53 in two road starts.

New York (9-13) is in last place in the AL East. The Yankees are 5-6 on the road, 5-11 versus the AL East and 2-2 against the Orioles. They have lost four in a row at Camden Yards for the first time since Oct. 3, 2015 to May 3, 2016.

Yankees batters lead the AL and rank fourth in the major leagues with 97 walks this season and they have 12 over their last two games. Outfielder Aaron Judge has nine walks in his last seven games.

In 26 career games against the Orioles, infielder Gio Urshela is hitting .391/.436/.575 (34-for-87) with 20 runs, seven doubles, three home runs, 14 RBIs and six walks. He has reached base safely in each of his last 14 games against Baltimore.

A few Statcast notes:

* Cedric Mullins leads the O's with 28 hard hit balls (95+ mph), tied for the 19th-most in the AL.

* Maikel Franco leads the O's with six batted balls at 110+ mph.

* Trey Mancini leads the club with eight barrels, tied for the 12th-most in the AL.

* O's pitchers have allowed the 11th-highest opponent exit velocity average in the majors (89.1 mph), while O's batters have the 22st-highest average exit velocity in the majors (88.5 mph).

To be barreled, a batted ball requires an exit velocity of at least 98 mph. At that speed, balls struck with a launch angle between 26 to 30 degrees always garner barreled classification. Since tracking in 2015, such batted balls produce a batting average of at least .500 and slugging of 1.500. Stats show most balls hit with a barrel classification produce numbers even better than these most of the time.