Yankees at Orioles
All it took was a
date with the Baltimore Orioles for the New York Yankees to cure their early
season woes. New York won its first game on Monday, an easy 6-2 victory that
helped the franchise avoid its first 0-4 start since 1973. The Yankees have
posted a 13-5 record against Baltimore in each of the past three seasons.
Starting pitching
was the key to the Orioles’ early success, surrendering only one run in 23
innings to open with a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins. But lefty Brian
Matusz was shelled in Monday’s loss, and Baltimore batters are now just
6-for-33 (.182) with runners in scoring position. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter
continued his hot start to the season with a 4-for-4 effort to boost his
average above the .400 mark.
TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, MY9 (New
York), MASN (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Freddy Garcia (2011: 12-8,
3.62 ERA) vs. Orioles LH Wei-Yin Chen (first career start)
Garcia enters his 14th
career season and had a bit of a bounce-back year in 2011. The 35-year-old has
played for five different teams since 2004, but last year was his first with a
sub-4.00 ERA since 2005. He earned a spot in the rotation when Michael Pineda
went down with a shoulder injury.
Chen will make his
major-league debut after signing a three-year, $11.3 million deal with the
Orioles over the winter. The 26-year-old was 36-30 with a 2.48 ERA over 117
games with the Japan Central League’s Chunichi Dragons. Chen went 2-2 with a
3.60 ERA in five spring outings.
WALK-OFFS:
1. New York hasn’t
lost a season series against Baltimore in the past 14 years.
2. Jeter leads all
active players in games (253) and runs scored (194) against the Orioles, and
he’s second with 125 RBIs.
3. The Yankees are
23-9 in their last 32 games in Baltimore.