Orioles at Yankees
New York's Masahiro Tanaka tries to continue the dominating start to his career when the Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday in the rubber match of their three-game series. "I don't think it's fair to expect this from anyone - I don't care what your stuff is," Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters after Tanaka won his major league-leading 11th game Tuesday and has emerged as the favorite to be named American League starter in next month's All-Star Game. "I don't care if you throw 110. What he's done is remarkable. ..." Baltimore counters with Chris Tillman, who is 5-0 with a 6.33 ERA in nine road starts this season.
The Orioles belted four home runs - increasing their major league-leading total on the road to 51 - in Saturday's 6-1 victory, but one was particularly special. Shortstop J.J. Hardy, who recorded a 30-home run season and four 20-homer campaigns in his career, had gone 87 games without one before going deep in the eighth inning. Baltimore left fielder Steve Pearce also homered Saturday and is 8-for-16 in his last four games with two homers, seven RBIs and four runs scored.
TV: 2:05 p.m. ET, MASN (Baltimore), YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Chris Tillman (5-4, 4.82 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (11-1, 1.99)
Tillman, who makes his 100th career start (37-29, 4.36 ERA), allowed three runs and eight hits while not walking or striking out a batter in seven innings of a 5-2 loss to Toronto last Sunday to extend his winless streak to three starts. The 26-year-old California native's last road outing did not go well as he yielded five runs and six hits in one inning of an 8-6 loss to Texas on June 5. Tillman is 4-4 with a 6.70 ERA in 10 starts against New York - 2-3, 9.62 in six turns at Yankee Stadium.
Tanaka sports the lowest ERA in the American League after allowing one run and five hits while striking out 10 in six innings of a 3-1 victory over Toronto on Tuesday. The 25-year-old Japan native, who struck out 113 and walked 16 while sporting a 0.95 WHIP and .216 batting average against this season, has recorded a quality start in all 14 of his turns. The Yankees have split Tanaka's two no-decisions, including a 5-4 loss to Baltimore on April 9 when he yielded three runs in seven innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Sunday is Old Timers Day at Yankee Stadium and Hall of Fame reliever Goose Gossage will be presented with a Monument Park plaque as part of the ceremonies. Former New York first baseman Tino Martinez on Saturday received his plaque during pre-game festivities.
2. Baltimore LF Nelson Cruz has 23 home runs - tied for the major league lead with Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion - and has 60 RBIs, two fewer than Encarnacion.
3. The Yankees are 16-3 when leading after one inning and 23-31 in all other games.