masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgSimply put, the Orioles could get used to starting pitching like this.

Bud Norris pitched seven scoreless innings as the Orioles beat the Yankees 5-0 in front of 43,707 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles completed their first doubleheader sweep of the Yankees since Sept. 24, 1984. The O’s now have a season-high six-game win streak and are 88-59.

They are a season-high 29 games over .500, and with the Toronto Blue Jays’ loss tonight, they lowered their magic number to clinch the American League…Simply put, the Orioles could get used to starting pitching like this.

Bud Norris pitched seven scoreless innings as the Orioles beat the Yankees 5-0 in front of 43,707 at Camden Yards.

de-aza-holding-up-1-sidebar.jpgThe Orioles completed their first doubleheader sweep of the Yankees since Sept. 24, 1984. The O’s now have a season-high six-game win streak and are 88-59.

They are a season-high 29 games over .500, and with the Toronto Blue Jays’ loss tonight, they lowered their magic number to clinch the American League East to five.

The Orioles are 10-3 against the Yankees, including a 6-1 mark at home, and this result clinches the O’s first season series win over New York since 1997. They did it with six games still to play between the teams.

Norris gave up just three singles with two walks and 10 strikeouts to improve to 13-8 with an ERA of 3.74. O’s starters worked 14 scoreless frames in the doubleheader with 17 strikeouts.

Over their last five games against Boston and New York, O’s starters have give up just two earned runs over 32 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.56.

In their last 11 games, O’s starters have pitched to an ERA of 1.37, allowing two or fewer earned runs nine times.

The Orioles took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on a Ryan Flaherty RBI double and Alejandro De Aza’s RBI triple. That double was Flaherty’s ninth hit in his last 19 at-bats, and De Aza has hit safely in all eight games as an Oriole. Delmon Young’s two-run single in the seventh made it a 4-0 lead.

De Aza added a second RBI triple in the eighth inning. It was the 16th two-triple game in Orioles history. Jay Payton was the last Oriole to do that, during the 2007 season.

So on a day the Orioles lost Chris Davis, they won two more ballgames to move ever closer to their goal of their first division championship since 1997.