The New York Yankees are tuning up for what they hope is a deep postseason run while the Baltimore Orioles are eliminated from postseason contention. Add to that the issue of expected heavy rain moving the scheduled Saturday game up a day, and Friday may resemble something out of spring training.
Before concluding their four-game series with the Rays on Thursday, the Yankees announced the game against the visiting Orioles originally scheduled for Saturday would be moved up to be part of a doubleheader Friday. The ceremony honoring Hall of Fame left-hander CC Sabathia with a plaque in Monument Park will now take place before the first game on Friday.
It will be the fifth doubleheader of the season for the Yankees (92-67), with all of them coming at home after the All-Star break. New York split doubleheaders with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.
New York is 11-5 in its past 16 games after rallying for a 6-4 victory over the Rays on Thursday. George Lombard Jr. hit a tiebreaking two-run homer with two outs in the eighth and drove in three runs.
The big game continued a recent surge for the rookie shortstop. Since his average dropped to .217 on Sept. 12, Lombard is hitting .310 (13-for-42) with four homers and 11 RBIs in 10 games.
“He’s been great,” New York ace Cam Schlittler said of Lombard. “He’s a stud. It’s a lot of pressure on you being a shortstop for the Yankees, so I think he’s handled it very well.”
The Orioles were outscored 39-10 during a four-game sweep at Yankee Stadium May 1-4 and have lost eight of 10 meetings with the Yankees this season.
Baltimore (78-81) was eliminated from the American League wild-card race when the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals on Thursday afternoon. The Orioles head into the final series with six wins in their past nine games, including a three-game sweep of the New York Mets in Pete Alonso’s return to Queens last week.
Alonso is hitting .202 in his past 26 games but has nine of his 41 homers and 19 of his 110 RBIs in that span. Alonso, who leads the AL in RBIs, homered three times during Baltimore’s sweep of Toronto that ended with a pair of 4-2 victories in a Wednesday doubleheader.
“Regardless of what the record is, I just want to play good baseball, good quality baseball, and whatever we have left in the tank, just empty the tank, because after 162, that’s it,” Alonso said. “You’ve got to wait until spring, and then it’s another six months before baseball. So it’s whatever you have left, just empty the tank and hopefully we win all three there because that’s the goal.”
Before the Wednesday sweep, Baltimore had split its previous three doubleheaders this year.
Baltimore left-hander Trevor Rogers (10-11, 4.07 ERA) will start the first game on Friday, with right-hander Brandon Young (9-5, 3.62) due to get the ball in the second game.
Rogers lost each of his past two starts, though he yielded just one run on three hits in eight innings during a 1-0 defeat against the Brewers on Saturday. He struck out 10 Milwaukee batters. Both of his double-digit strikeout games this year occurred this month.
Rogers is 1-2 with a 6.41 ERA in five career starts against the Yankees. He took a home loss against New York on May 12, when he permitted six runs on six hits in four innings.
Young is 0-2 with a 4.50 ERA in his past seven starts. He allowed two runs on three hits in six innings during a 3-0 loss to Milwaukee on Sunday.
Young’s only previous start against the Yankees was a no-decision in Baltimore on May 11, when he gave up two runs on three hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Rookie Brendan Beck (0-1, 8.22 ERA) is expected to start the opener for the Yankees in his first-ever meeting with the Orioles. Beck has made three appearances this season, and his only start was on July 4, when he allowed five runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings of an 11-4 loss to the visiting Minnesota Twins.
The Yankees did not announce their Game 2 starter, but Will Warren likely will pitch the bulk of the innings.
–Field Level Media
