Orioles at Yankees
As anticipated, the New York Yankees' big bats are hammering the ball all over Yankee Stadium. The slugging Yankees will try to make it three wins in a row to begin their home schedule when they begin a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday night.
After Didi Gregorius smacked a pair of homers and drove in eight runs to lead New York to an 11-4 victory in its home opener against Tampa Bay on Tuesday, the formidable trio of Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez each went deep in Wednesday's 7-2 triumph. "Hopefully we'll put some back-to-back-to-backs in there," Stanton told reporters, "but it's good that we all got one today." The Orioles have lost five in a row since a season-opening victory and they've been outscored 32-11 in that span. "It's really tough, this schedule," second baseman Jonathan Schoop told reporters after his team was swept in Houston. "But it's tough for them, too, because they have to face us. We're good too. We've just got to go out there and grind and play hard and try to win."
TV: 6:35 p.m. ET, MASN (Baltimore), WPIX (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles RH Andrew Cashner (0-1, 7.20 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (1-0, 1.50)
Cashner took the loss in his debut with Baltimore after giving up five runs (four earned) over five innings against Minnesota on Saturday. He served up three home runs in the outing, the most the 31-year-old has allowed since July 8, 2016. Cashner has a 1.80 ERA in three career starts against New York but has never pitched in Yankee Stadium.
Tanaka was dominant in a victory at Toronto to begin his campaign, fanning eight Blue Jays and allowing one run in six innings. He was 9-5 with a 3.22 ERA in 15 starts at home in 2017, including seven innings of two-run ball in a win over Baltimore on Sept. 14. Schoop has just five hits in 23 at-bats in his career against the 29-year-old Tanaka, but three of them are home runs and one is a double.
WALK-OFFS
1. Orioles 1B Chris Davis is 1-for-21 with six strikeouts on the season.
2. Judge has four hits and five walks over the last three games.
3. New York won 12 of 19 meetings last season, including eight of 10 at Yankee Stadium.