New York Yankees vs. Baltimore Orioles: Series Preview

After the disastrous recent run continued as the Yankees lost two of three to the Mets, the Yankees got a much-needed comeback win against the Twins on Monday. Hopefully for their sakes, the win put a pep in the Yankees’ step, because they have a chance to pick up some much needed wins against lesser competition over the next couple series. That starts tonight against the Orioles.

The Orioles are coming off an abysmal series against the Blue Jays, where they allowed 45 runs in four games. That includes a fitting football score loss of 22-7 on the first Sunday of the NFL season. They ended a 19-game losing streak back on August 25th, and have gone 7-11 in the games since then. Two of those wins came courtesy of the Yankees in one of the Bombers’ worst performances of the season. The Yankees alone account for over 15 percent of the Orioles’ wins this season, which is one of the main things playing such a huge difference in the standings.

The Yankees have a chance to pick up some much needed wins this week, if they take advance, which is a pretty big “if.” Here’s the matchups we’ll see over the next couple days as they try to do so.

Tuesday: Gerrit Cole vs. Alexander Wells (7:05 pm ET)

Leaving his last start early after feeling tightness in his hamstring, Cole was given a couple extra days, and it’ll have been exactly a week when he takes the mound tonight. Making sure he’s good will be the most important thing. As long as he’s good to go, he’ll probably be pretty good on the mound. Since the start of August, he has allowed just four earned runs in 28.1 innings, and half of those came in his abbreviated outing back on the 7th.

The Australian Wells hasn’t had the best rookie season, and the Yankees are a semi-large part of that. On August 3rd, he got the start against them, and lasted just 2.1 innings, having given up six runs. That accounts for a third of his runs allowed this season.

Wednesday: Néstor Cortes Jr. vs. John Means (7:05 pm ET)

Cortes was the obvious option to start this game, having not pitched since last Thursday night, and the Yankees finally confirmed it on Tuesday afternoon. The former Oriole struck out seven of them in 5.1 innings when they faced off back on September 3rd. The next start after that, Cortes held the powerful Blue Jays’ offense to just two runs in six innings, although the Yankees lost that game.

Despite being a division foe, Means has faced the Yankees just twice so far this year, and he’s been fairly effective in both. Across 12 innings, he’s allowed just three earned runs. On the other hand, since returning from injury back on July 20th, he has a 4.88 ERA and is allowing nearly two home runs per nine innings.

Thursday: Jordan Montgomery vs. Chris Ellis (5:05 pm ET)

Montgomery had mixed results against Baltimore so far this season. While he shut them out over six innings all the way back on April 5th, in his two starts against them since, he hasn’t lasted past the fifth inning. He only allowed one run to them back on September 4th, but threw 97 pitches in 4.2 innings and left the bases loaded. Montgomery will be seeking a rebound from his most recent outing, a start against the Mets that might have been the worst of his career.

This is set to be Ellis’ fifth start as an Oriole since they claimed him off waivers back in August. In one of those, he was Montgomery’s opposing number back on the 4th. That day, he held the Yankees to just one hit in five scoreless innings.