Battle for the AL East lead: O's and Yankees begin four-game set tonight

The Orioles have played nine series thus far, but just one versus an American League East opponent. They swept Boston at Fenway Park April 9-11 by 7-1, 7-5 and 9-4 scores.

That changes tonight when the top two teams in the AL East meet for four games over four days in a first-place showdown. After scoring a combined 30 runs the last two games at Milwaukee, the New York Yankees are 19-10 and lead the division by one game over the Orioles at 17-10.

Baltimore went 32-20 (.615) against the AL East last year, the second-best winning percentage against the division by the O's since 1981 behind the .618 (47-29) mark in 2014. The Birds won the season series against Toronto (10-3), and Tampa Bay (8-5), and went 7-6 each against Boston and New York. It was the first time since 2014 that the Orioles won the season series against each of their division opponents.

And beginning play tonight, the Orioles have a 15-series unbeaten streak riding against AL East opponents. They have won 11 and tied four series within their division since losing their first two of last season. This is the longest such streak in team history, topping 13 straight in 1969.

How important is a four-game series with the Yankees in April? It will be important for the Orioles to show they can hold their own with a New York team that a lot of outlets favored to win this division. They are the Yankees, and they always get attention, usually way too much. The Orioles won the division last year and they hold the current title of AL East champs.

If one of these teams takes three or four games this week, they surely will have held their own and then some against their rival and maybe set the tone for how the season series could go this year.

But still, it’s just four games and there will be a long way to go beginning Friday, no matter how the O’s fare in this series.

The Orioles scored 13 runs the last two games, but they have gone six straight games with nine hits or less on offense. In the first 21 games they had double digit hits 10 times.

New York’s offense came to life in Milwaukee. They scored six runs Friday and lost before winning the last two days by 15-3 and 15-5. They put up 30 runs on 37 hits and hit seven homers in those two games after scoring a total of 23 runs the previous seven games, a period during which they were shutout twice.

Later today we await further word on closer Craig Kimbrel who was pulled yesterday after giving up the lead on a two-run homer in the ninth. He suffered two blown saves this weekend and after the game manager Brandon Hyde said he was dealing with upper back tightness.

Do the O’s need to make a roster move or moves for their bullpen, which has been scored on 13 times in the last 16 games with an ERA of 5.37 in that span?

Is it worth noting that, even after a series loss this weekend, even with a bullpen struggling and even without currently pitchers Kyle Bradish, John Means, Tyler Wells and Cionel Pérez, the O’s are 17-10. That pace over the full year would produce 102 wins.

The Yankees, after all those runs suddenly, bring some momentum to Camden Yards. They started this year going 12-3 but are just 7-7 since, even with those two wins. They are 11-5 on the road and 5-4 versus AL East teams.

The Yankees now lead the division in the standings and in run differential at a plus-43 with the Orioles at plus-34 and Boston (with a 15-13 record) plus-32.

Toronto (14-15) and Tampa Bay (13-16) bring up the last two spots in the AL East right now. The Rays couldn’t lose early last year at this time but this weekend they gave up 21 runs and were swept three in a row at the Chicago White Sox. Chicago was 3-22 when the weekend began.

Back to the Orioles, catcher Adley Rutschman has homered in back-to-back games and takes a career-best nine-game hitting streak into this series. Over those nine games, Rutschman is 16-for-41 batting .390 with an OPS of 1.039 with a double, three homers and 10 RBIs.  

The Orioles stole two more bases without being thrown out Sunday. As a team that they are now 24-for-25 stealing bases and their 96.0 percent success rate leads MLB. They have four steals the past two games and 11 in the last eight games.

Cedric Mullins stole his sixth base on Sunday and now has 99 career steals. Mullins (6-for-7) and Gunnar Henderson (6-for-6) are tied for the club lead in steals.

For those that enjoy my postgame call-in show on WBAL Radio, we will be on the air live from the Yard after the first three games of this Yankees series. Tune in and you can also listen anywhere on the WBAL Radio app.

Minor league notes: Per a source the Orioles will be promoting minor league right-handed pitcher Cameron Weston from High-A Aberdeen to Double-A Bowie.

Weston, 23, the club's eighth-round pick in the 2022 MLB Draft out of the University of Michigan, went 1-0 with an ERA of 0.54 in four starts for the IronBirds. Over 16 2/3 innings, he walked seven and fanned 19 with a WHIP of 0.84.

Lefty John Means, in what was likely his final minor league rehab appearance, pitched seven scoreless Sunday in Triple-A Norfolk's 2-0 win over Gwinnett. He allowed just one hit and threw 95 pitches. Means averaged 91.2 mph on his fastball per Statcast and topped at 93.3 and he got 13 swings and misses. 

Samuel Basallo, the No. 11 prospect in the sport per Baseball America, produced his first two-homer game at the Double-A level, driving in three runs as Bowie beat Richmond 4-2.

High-A Aberdeen beat Jersey Shore 7-6 on Matthew Etzel's two-run walk-off double in the last of the ninth. He had three hits and three RBIs and Etzel, their 10th round pick last summer, is batting .333 with an OPS of .948. Aberdeen (11-10) has won six of its last seven games.

Low-A Delmarva lost 6-4 to Fredericksburg, losing five of six in the series.