O's game blog: Looking to bounce back in New York

A New York Yankees team that is playing good baseball right now produced a come-from-behind win last night, beating the Orioles 6-5 in 10 innings in the series opener at Yankee Stadium.

The Orioles are now 13-3 in series-opening games. They actually did not lose either of the first two series where they lost the first game. Tampa Bay beat the Orioles 3-0 May 8 in Baltimore in the series opener, but the Orioles took the series, winning the next two games. They also lost the opener 9-5 on May 15 to the Los Angeles Angeles, but won the next two games of that set and split a four-game series.

The Yankees (30-20) have won seven of their last eight games, nine of their last 11 games and 12 of the last 15 games. Tuesday’s victory marked their fourth walk-off win this season (also 4/19 vs. Los Angeles-AL, 4/22 vs. Toronto and 5/3 vs. Cleveland). They improved to 4-2 in extra-inning games, and each of their last three wins have been come-from-behind wins.

They have won a season-high five straight games to mark their longest winning streak since a seven-game run from Sept. 18-25, 2022. New York is a season-high 10 games over .500. And, at 15-5 (.750) over their last 20 games (since 5/2), the Yankees hold the best record in the majors in that span.

The Orioles (31-17) remain three games behind Tampa Bay for first-place in the American League East. Overall, they have won three of their past four, five of seven, nine of 13, 14 of 22 and 22 of the last 32 games. They are 16-9 on the road and 9-7 in games within the AL East.

The Orioles have scored five or more runs in each of their last five games and in seven of their last eight games. They are 1-3 versus the Yankees this season and 8-15 since the beginning of 2022. Baltimore is now 3-3 in extra-inning games and 9-6 in one-run games.

With last night's loss, they fell to 27-2 this year when leading after eight innings.

O’s catcher Adley Rutschman has reached base safely in each of his last 12 starts, hitting .278/.418/.523 (12-for-44) with two doubles, three homers, 11 walks and seven RBIs in that span. He has reached base multiple times in eight of those games and is hitting .391/.509/.565 (18-for-46) with five doubles, three RBIs and 11 walks in 13 career games against the Yankees. Rutschman has hit hit safely in his last six games against New York and in 11 of his 13 games.

Center fielder Cedric Mullins went 1-for-4 with a walk and solo homer last night, hitting No. 8. He has a six-game hitting streak, batting .435 (10-for-23) with four runs, four doubles, two homers and six RBIs over that stretch. Six of his last nine hits have gone for extra bases (four doubles, two HR), and he has five RBIs over his last three games. Mullins has hit safely in 14 of his last 16 starts, and 20 of his last 24 starts, since April 24.

Right-hander Tyler Wells (3-1, 2.94 ERA) will make his ninth start, and first since allowing three runs over five innings on 95 pitches Thursday at home against the Angels. Wells ranks ninth in the AL in ERA and is first in MLB with a 0.788 WHIP. He has allowed two earned runs or less in five of his outings and has two quality starts.

He faced the Yankees earlier this year on April 9 and gave up four runs over six innings. Last year, he went 0-2 with a 4.26 ERA versus New York. For his career, he is 0-4 with a 4.68 ERA in 11 games against the Yankees, allowing a .220 average and .666 OPS.

Lefty Nestor Cortes (4-2, 5.21 ERA) makes his 10^th start for the Yankees. In his past four games he has allowed seven, two, six and two runs for a 1-1 record and 7.65 ERA in that span. He’s allowed five homers in 20 innings with a .872 OPS against. This is quite different from his 2022 season when he went 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA.

In three starts last season against the Orioles, he went 2-0 with an ERA of 0.00, allowing no runs over 18 1/3 innings. This season, he faced the Orioles April 9 and was at least scored on, allowing two runs over 5 1/3 innings. In eight career games he is 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA and .476 OPS against when facing the Orioles.