The lowly Baltimore Orioles look to avoid a sweep Thursday night when they host the New York Yankees. The game is scheduled to start at 7:05 PM ET and is the third of a three-game series.
The Yankees are overwhelming baseball betting lines favorites at -240 while the Orioles pay +205. The total is 9.5 runs.
The game has significance for the Baltimore Orioles (16-43, 10-18 home) because they are giving rookie Jake Arrieta his first major league start since being called up from Triple A. Interim manager Juan Samuel felt it would be good to start him against the defending World Series champions so he could dive headfirst into the league. The right-hander went 6-2 with a 1.85 ERA in 12 starts for Norfolk this season. Batters are hitting only .189 against him, and he has 64 strikeouts and 34 walks in 73 innings.
Arrieta has the difficult task of stopping a New York Yankees (37-22, 18-15 away) team that has made it a habit of beating up on his last-place squad. Second baseman Robinson Cano, who leads the majors with a .376 batting average, is 22 for 44 with four homers and seven RBIs against Baltimore this season. Right fielder Nick Swisher is 18 for 46 with 12 RBIs against the Orioles after his five-RBI performance in Tuesday’s 12-7 win.
The Yankees have won 8 of their last 10 and have a good chance of taking the next four before facing Philadelphia in a rematch of the 2009 World Series starting June 15. In between the Baltimore series and the Philly series, they will take on a struggling Houston Astros team that is tied for the second-worst record in the NL.
A.J. Burnett (6-3, 3.72 ERA) will start for New York. The right-hander has dominated against Baltimore over the course of his career, going 11-2 with a 4.41 ERA in 15 career starts against them. In 2010, he is 2-0 without allowing an earned run against them.
