O's game blog: It's Jimenez against Pineda in New York series opener

After winning four in a row and six of their last seven games, the Orioles have moved from six games under .500 (23-29) to one (29-30). Tonight they can get to the .500 mark for the first time since May 5 when they were 12-12.

Ubaldo Jimenez (3-3, 3.02 ERA) faces Michael Pineda (7-2, 3.33 ERA) tonight as the Orioles start a weekend series against the New York Yankees. They trail New York by four games as the series begins.

When Pineda faced the Orioles May 10 he was dominant. Over seven innings he gave up one run with no walks and 16 strikeouts.

Pineda became the first pitcher with a 16-strikeout, no-walk game since Johan Santana on Aug. 19, 2007. No Yankees pitcher had ever done that . The Orioles struck out 18 times in all that day to set a club record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game.

Jimenez has pitched to an ERA of 2.45 his last two starts, but he did walk six batters in five innings Friday in Cleveland. Somehow he managed to give up just one run. In five home starts, Jimenez, who has not faced New York this year, is 3-1 with a 2.06 ERA.

While Orioles starters continue to pitch pretty well - they have an ERA of 3.05 the past eight games - they have not pitched seven innings or more in 11 consecutive games. Before this they went seven or more in 11 of the previous 17 games.

The Orioles bullpen pitchers gave up just one run in 12 innings in the Boston series, holding Red Sox hitters to a .103 average (4-for-39). Over the last eight games, the bullpen ERA is 1.75.

Over his last eight games, Adam Jones is batting .419 (13-for-31) with two doubles, two triples, four homers, nine runs and six RBIs. After going through a 20-game stretch without a homer, he has hit four over his last seven games.

The Orioles won two one-run games in the Boston series and they have won four of their last five and six of the last eight one-run games.

The Orioles are 3-4 in 2015 against New York but are 14-8 versus the Yankees since last June 21. At Camden Yards, the Orioles have won eight of their last 10 and 16 of the past 21 meetings with New York.

In the season series, Caleb Joseph is 11-for-21 with a homer and four RBIs. Jones is 9-for-28 with two homers and five RBIs.

Minor matters: The Orioles today released Single-A Frederick right-hander Jarrett Miller and the Keys added right-handed pitcher Mikey O'Brien from Double-A Bowie. The 25-year-old Miller went 2-3 with a 4.87 ERA in 11 games with the Keys.

Delmarva outfielder T.J. Olesczuk has an RBI in each of his first seven games with the team. Drafted in round 40 last year out of Winthrop, Olesczuk is batting .423 with two homers and 12 RBIs in seven games with the Shorebirds.

Triple-A Norfolk oufielder Dariel Alvarez ranks second in the International League with a .438 average in June. Tides first baseman Christian Walker is sixth, batting .382 this month.

Norfolk leads the IL with a 2.79 team ERA this season, and the Tides have issued the fewest walks (168) and yielded the fewest homers (20) in the league. The Tides have only had one sub-3.00 ERA in franchise history, as the 1975 Tidewater Tides finished with a 2.77 ERA.