Zach Britton on returning to Baltimore with the Yankees

When former Orioles closer Zach Britton walked underneath the stands at Camden Yards today and down a tunnel, his destination for the first time in this park was the visiting clubhouse. He made it there eventually.

"Walking down the tunnel and going past the home side, I stopped in for a second just to say hi," Britton said this afternoon during an interview in the Yankees dugout. "I've never been on the visiting side, so this is all new. I tried to talk to teammates that I didn't get a chance to when I got traded. People in the front office or even the training staff. I got traded so late in the night that a lot of them were home. So just stopped in to say hi to them and catch up."

It was July 24 when the Orioles traded Britton - a pending free agent - to New York for pitchers Dillon Tate, Josh Rogers and Cody Carroll. Britton could take the mound tonight for the first time at Camden Yards as a visitor. He was asked about the reception he would expect from the Orioles fans.

"I don't know. They've been great to me, so I'm sure it's going to be nice," he said. "But they obviously don't like the Yankees either, so it's going to be a mixture of some boos and some cheers I think."

When Britton left the Orioles, he had thrown eight consecutive scoreless outings. He is 0-0 with an ERA of 5.23 in 11 games with New York, allowing six runs and 10 hits in 10 1/3 innings. He has thrown three straight scoreless outings most recently. He could get save chances now that Aroldis Chapman has gone to the disabled list with left knee tendinitis.

Until the trade, the Orioles were the only big league organization Britton had known since the day they drafted him in the third round of the 2006 draft through eight years wearing the orange and black uniform in the big leagues.

Some memories came rushing back today.

"Little bit of everything," he said. "I remember the first time I came here and made my first major league start. Playoff games here. Closing games here. Just a lot of different memories. It's good to be back.

"Yeah, it's going to be different (pitching here for New York). Parts of seven, eight seasons, I was here pitching for the home team. So it's going to be a little different you know pitching in a Yankee uniform here. But I'm looking forward to it. Lot of great memories, so excited to be back."

It certainly will likely be strange if Britton faces the Orioles and a long-time teammate like Adam Jones or Chris Davis bats against him.

"Yeah, the only time I faced those guys was intrasquad games, so that will be weird," Britton said. "But I I've done it before, facing former teammates. It's just a fun little battle and then when the game is over, we text each other back and forth. It will be weird, but I'll get used to it today and then tomorrow out here it will be just another day."

Britton was traded on July 24 and tonight, on Aug. 24, he returns to Baltimore. That was a fast month.

"Going from the situation in Baltimore where you are losing a lot of games to New York and being in the hunt again, there is something about that, that gets you excited and the time does go faster when you win," he said. "I know just talking to those guys, it's been a long season for them. I'm happy I'm in the situation I'm in now. It was hard to leave the team, but I'm happy to be with the Yankees."