New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles series preview

After a series north of the border, the Yankees continue their road swing by heading down to Baltimore. The 2018 season has not been great for the Orioles. They already weren’t great, but come into this series having won just one of their last 13 games. They’ve also scored three or fewer runs in more than half of their games since the start of June.

All of this plays well on paper for the Yankees, so how do the pitching matchups in this series shake out?

Game One: CC Sabathia vs. Jimmy Yacabonis

Sabathia has been on fire as of late, allowing five combined runs in his last three starts. He lasted just four innings in his only start against Baltimore this season, however that was also the game that caused him to spend some time on the disabled list in April. You would think he could continue his good run against a struggling Orioles team, as long as he doesn’t get ejected again. As for Yacabonis, well he has manged to be worth -0.2 WAR in six innings, which doesn’t say good things about his season so far.

Game Two: Luis Cessa vs. Yefry Ramirez

Cessa will get the start in the second game of the doubleheader. He struggled in his lone start of this season against the Phillies back on June 27th. Despite appearing in just five games in 2018, Cessa has pitched against the Orioles this year, striking out two in a perfect inning back in April.

For the Orioles, rookie Yefry Ramirez will be making his third career start and fourth overall appearance. After a less than stellar debut, he’s held teams to just two runs, one earned, in 10 innings since. Ramirez was in the Yankees’ system from 2016 to July of last season. He was traded for international money in the ill-fated attempt to sign Shoei Ohtani.

Game Three: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Andrew Cashner

Tanaka’s back! Even though he’s struggled at points this season, it will be good for the Yankees to get Masahiro back after he missed time due to hamstring strains. Tanaka was in the middle of a pretty solid outing against the Mets when he went down, so hopefully he gets back on track now that he’s returned. He also won’t have to hit or run the bases in this game.

Cashner’s had mostly a below average season so far, but he’s been pretty solid in the last month or so. He’s allowed 12 earned runs in 34 innings dating back to the start of June. That run opened with a three-run, six-inning outing against the Yankees, although the Bombers did rack up nine hits in that game.

Game Four: Sonny Gray vs. Dylan Bundy

Bundy and the Yankees have missed each other in both New York-Baltimore series so far this season. He got shelled against the Twins last time out, but prior to that Bundy had an excellent June in what has been and up-and-down season for him.

On the other side, check out footage from Gray’s last start:

Let’s hope for better results on Wednesday.