Yankees at Orioles
With Gleyber Torres and Gary Sanchez staging their own personal Home Run Derby, the New York Yankees are making a mockery of a matchup between the best and worst teams in the American League East. The Yankees have blasted 11 home runs in the first three games of the series and will go for a four-game sweep of the host Baltimore Orioles on Thursday afternoon.
The 22-year-old Torres went deep twice in Wednesday's 7-5 victory to become the youngest player in AL history with six career multiple-homer games -- four of which have come against the Orioles this season. Sanchez homered for the third straight day and has nine blasts against Baltimore this season -- one fewer than Torres -- to help New York extend its winning streak to 11 games at Camden Yards, including 6-0 this season. While the Yankees have won four in a row and eight of nine overall, the Orioles have dropped five in a row to fall to a major league-worst 15-34 overall and 6-18 at home. Renato Nunez went deep for the second time in the series and Richie Martin added a solo shot for Baltimore, which has surrendered 105 homers -- 17 more than any other team in the majors.
TV: 12:35 p.m. ET, MLB Network, YES (New York), MASN (Baltimore)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (3-3, 3.09 ERA) vs. Orioles RH Dylan Bundy (2-5, 4.66)
Tanaka blanked Tampa Bay on three hits over six scoreless innings before he was forced to exit the game due to a right shin contusion when he was hit by a hard grounder, but he pronounced himself ready to go in the series finale. The 30-year-old from Japan has registered three consecutive quality starts, yielding a total of three runs and 13 hits over 19 1/3 innings. Trey Mancini is 6-for-17 with a home run off Tanaka, who improved to 5-3 with a 3.58 ERA after beating Baltimore with 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball on March 28.
Bundy surrendered 41 homers last season and has served up 11 this year, including a pair in one of two no-decisions versus the Yankees in which he failed to make it through the fourth inning. He has bounced back nicely from a four-start slide, tossing 7 1/3 scoreless innings versus Tampa Bay on May 4 and limiting Cleveland to an unearned run over 5 2/3 frames last time out. Bundy had a 9.00 ERA in losing both starts to New York last year and must be wary of recently acquired Kendrys Morales (6-for-18, 2 HRs).
WALK-OFFS
1. Yankees 2B DJ LeMahieu is riding a five-game hitting streak and has multiple hits in four in a row.
2. Orioles 2B Hanser Alberto is 7-for-13 with a homer and four RBIs in the series and has hit safely in five straight games.
3. Yankees OF Giancarlo Stanton suffered a calf strain during his rehab assignment and will be shut down for seven to 10 days.