O's game blog: It's Norris against Pineda in Yankee Stadium series finale

After hitting three homers and scoring six runs in a win over the Yankees on Saturday, the Orioles have a chance to even the four-game series today. But they'll have to get past right-hander Michael Pineda (4-0, 2.97 ERA).

Pineda has pitched to an ERA of 1.27 over his last three starts for New York and leads the American League with a strikeout-to-walks ratio of 12.67, with just three walks to 38 strikeouts over 39 1/3 innings.

In his last start in a win over Toronto on Tuesday, Pineda pitched eight scoreless innings on five hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Left-handed batters are hitting .224 against him, while right-handed batters are hitting .275 and Pineda allows an average of .214 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

But Pineda's worst start of this year came against the Orioles on April 13 at Camden Yards. He got a 6-5 win, but gave up season highs with nine and runs with five hits over 6 1/3 innings. In two starts versus the Orioles last year, he went 2-0 with an ERA of 0.73. In five career starts against Baltimore, he is 2-0 with an ERA of 2.84.

Bud Norris (1-3, 9.75 ERA) is set to make his sixth start of the year and second against New York today. On April 15, he got a no-decision against New York when he went five innings and gave up five hits and three runs, throwing 98 pitches.

After pitching to an ERA of 17.42 his first three starts, Norris has an ERA of 3.95 in his last two starts against the Red Sox and Mets.

The Orioles are 3-3 this year against New York and 16-9 versus the Yankees since the start of the 2014 season. They are 6-0-1 in seven series since opening day of last year and need a win today to avoid losing a series against New York for the first time since Sept. 9-12, 2013.

Each team has scored 29 runs in the season series, while the Orioles are batting .287 with an OPS of .846 in the six games.

Caleb Joseph is 11-for-18 (.611) against New York with a double, triple, homer and four RBIs. Chris Davis is just 3-for-23 (.130) with a homer, four RBIs and 15 strikeouts versus Yankees pitchers.

In the minors Saturday: Triple-A Norfolk (16-13) beat Buffalo 1-0 in 11 innings. Chris Parmalee's bases-loaded single gave Norfolk the walk-off win in the 11th. The Tides won before a home crowd of 10,536 at Harbor Park.

The shutout was the fifth of the season for the Tides, who now own the best ERA in the International League at 2.58.

Zach Davies went five scoreless innings allowing three hits and lowered his ERA to 2.30. Michael Bowden pitched three for Norfolk, Oliver Drake pitched one inning and Chaz Roe went the final two to get the win. Christian Walker went 3-for-4 and Henry Urrutia 2-for-4 for the Tides.

Double-A Bowie (17-12) lost at Richmond for the second night in a row after a six-game winning streak. The Flying Squirrels beat the Baysox 3-1, holding Bowie to four hits. Mike Yastrzemski went 1-for-4 with a double and drove in the only Baysox run. Right-hander Branden Kline gave up three runs over six innings to fall to 3-2 with a 3.66 ERA. Dylan Bundy (0-2, 2.77 ERA) pitches for Bowie this afternoon.

Single-A Frederick (17-13) blanked Potomac 4-0, as Jarrett Miller and Dennis Torres teamed on a four-hitter. Miller, now 2-0 with an ERA of 3.54, went the first five innings and Torres the last four. Keys outfielder Johnny Ruettiger, hitting .177 at gametime, went 4-for-4 with a triple and three RBIs.

Single-A Delmarva (16-12) lost 7-5 to Augusta in front of a sellout crowd of 7,998 at Perdue Stadium. Conor Bierfeldt hit a three-run homer in the first inning and catcher Jonah Heim went 2-for-4 and is batting .282. Losing pitcher Matthew Grimes allowed six runs (two earned) in four innings.