O's game blog: Orioles-Yankees series finale

The Orioles and Yankees wrap up their four-game series this afternoon at Oriole Park before the O’s head to Cincinnati to begin their next road trip.

The Orioles won by 2-0 and 4-2 scores the first two games. The Yankees held them to three singles in a 2-0 win last night. The Orioles were shut out for the first time in 2024.

The Orioles (19-11) have a .633 winning percentage and the Yankees (20-12) are at .625. They are tied for first place in the games behind standings, with Boston just 1 1/2 games back now at 18-13. The Red Sox are 8-3 their past 11 games. Toronto is five back and Tampa Bay is six games out.

The O’s offense is 16-for-91 with six runs and one homer this series. The Yankees have gone 16-for-93 with four runs and three home runs. They are 0-for-12 this series with runners in scoring position.

A look at some hitters in this series:

* Gunnar Henderson is 2-for-10 with a homer and two RBIs
* Adley Rutschman is 3-for-12 with an RBI
* Jordan Westburg is 3-for-11 with no homers or RBIs
* Anthony Santander is 1-for-8 with a double and no RBIs
* Ryan Mountcastle is 0-for-12 with five strikeouts
* Juan Soto is 4-for-10 with two walks, a homer and one RBI
* Aaron Judge is 1-for-11 with no RBIs and three strikeouts
* Anthony Volpe is 1-for-12 with no RBIs and four strikeouts
* Giancarlo Stanton is 1-for-10 with no RBIs
* Anthony Rizzo is 0-for-11 with three strikeouts

Baltimore pitchers have thrown 27 innings allowing four runs and 16 hits with eight walks and 19 strikeouts.

O’s starters have given up all four runs over 18 2/3 innings. The Baltimore bullpen has thrown a combined 8 1/3 scoreless this series with no walks and six strikeouts.

In mid-February, it was announced that Orioles starter Kyle Bradish would begin the season on the injured list with a right elbow UCL sprain that needed a platelet-rich plasma injection.

His road back to the majors ends today with his activation this morning to the O's roster and start this afternoon.

He made three injury rehab starts on the farm, throwing three scoreless innings April 16 for Double-A Bowie and he made two starts for Triple-A Norfolk. On April 21, he gave up four runs over 3 1/3. On Friday, he gave up one run and five hits over five innings. So he is 1-0 with a 3.97 ERA and 1.41 WHIP in the three games. His pitch counts increased from 44 to 64 to 79 in that last game.

Bradish went 12-7 with a 2.83 ERA in 30 starts last year when he finished fourth in the American League Cy Young Award voting. The last time he pitched in a big league game was on Oct. 7 in Game 1 of the American League Division Series at Oriole Park, taking the loss against the Rangers while allowing seven hits and two runs over 4 2/3 innings on 84 pitches.

Lefty Carlos Rodón (2-1, 2.48 ERA) gets the start for New York, making his seventh of the year. Rodón went 3-8 with a 6.85 ERA last year and missed 100 games with trips to the injured list for both a left forearm strain and a hamstring strain.

This season he has thrown 32 2/3 innings, allowing 25 hits and three homers with 14 walks and 30 strikeouts. He has a WHIP of 1.194 with a 3.9 walk rate and 8.3 strikeout rate. He ranks tied for 10th in the AL in ERA. 

The Yankees are 4-2 in his games. Over his last two outings, he has been really good, allowing just one run and three hits over 13 combined innings against Oakland and Milwaukee. In those games, he has walked three, fanned 12 and has a 0.69 WHIP.

Rodón has allowed two earned runs or less five times and has three quality starts.

He has reverse splits with lefty batters hitting him better: Lefty batters hit .300 with an OPS of .814 while right-handers hit .192/.613 against him. When pitching with runners in scoring position, he allows a .143 average and .408 OPS with batters going 4-for-28 against him.

Rodón did not face the Orioles last season. But in five career games (four starts), he is 0-2 with a 4.37 ERA versus the Orioles with a 1.368 WHIP, allowing a .244 batting average and .699 OPS.

Despite not homering in the last two games, the Orioles still lead the major leagues with 45 home runs, tied for the second-most homers through the first 30 games in O's history with 2012 and trailing only 1996 (48). The most longballs through Baltimore's first 31 games of a season is 50 by the 2012 team. The Orioles are the only major league team with eight players who've hit at least four home runs; the Yankees are second with six players.

The O's lead the AL and rank third in the majors with 101 extra-base hits (50 doubles, six triples, 45 home runs). In the AL team stats, they rank third in batting average (.250), eighth in on-base percentage (.308), first in slugging (.440) and first in OPS (.748).