He did not get a decision tonight but his team got the win as Ubaldo Jimenez went six innings, allowing five hits and three runs in the Orioles' 4-3 Game 2 victory over New York to sweep a doubleheader.
JImenez finished the year going 12-10 with a 4.11 ERA in 32 starts over 184 innings. How does he feel about his 2015 season?
"It was way better than last year, for sure. It is not like a great season, but was an improvement compared to last year," he said. "Every time you have a chance to do that, it feels good. Have to keep working hard and try to be more consistent."
Jimenez recorded quality starts in his last three starts and four of his last five. He pitched to an ERA of 3.19 in six starts since Sept. 1.
"Yeah, I was able to throw a quality game and was able to finish strong and that is what I was looking for," he said. "Because I really had a tough month of August.
"I was able to improve and it will definitely give me confidence for next year. I'm going to go into the offseason knowing I was able to improve. I know I still have a lot of things to get better at and be more consistent and get deeper into games."
Left-hander T.J. McFarland picked up his second win in three days as he recorded back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth on 22 pitches.
"That was great," McFarland said. "Always nice to get a win. Our team battled back there in the eighth and it was fantastic to watch. I'm just happy to be a part of that game.
"With a tie game like that, I'm trying to make good pitches and throw strikes and that is kind of what I did. When you have a defense like I had behind me, it is real easy to throw sinkers in the middle of the plate and let our defense work."
McFarland has been on the shuttle a few times this year between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore. He is 2-2 with an ERA of 4.58 in 29 games for the Orioles, and went 2-3 with a 2.91 ERA in 16 games for the Tides.
"It's definitely been a roller coaster ride for me," he said. "Up and down a few times. Physically and performance-wise too. Just happy to get this win tonight. If we could sweep the Yankees the last series of the year, that would be pretty good with our rivalry."
Manny Machado has now homered in a career-high four consecutive games, including five home runs in that four-game span. Machado is the first Oriole to homer in four straight since Caleb Joseph did so Aug. 2-9, 2014 (five games). It is the 24th such streak in club history. Four players have homered in five or more consecutive games, while Chris Davis (Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 2012) and Reggie Jackson (July 18-23, 1976) hold the club record with homers in six consecutive games.
The Orioles went 13-6 against New York last year and are 9-9 versus the Yankees this season. A win tomorrow would give them two straight season series wins against the Yankees for first time since three straight from 1980-82.
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