Preview: Orioles At Yankees
By NOEY KUPCHAN
STATS Writer
(AP) -- Though the New York Yankees' playoff hopes have all but faded, they're still showing some fight.
New York tries to stay hot Monday night against the AL East champion Baltimore Orioles as Derek Jeter begins his final home series.
The Yankees (80-75) have won four of five after beating Toronto 5-2 on Sunday. Masahiro Tanaka pitched into the sixth inning in his return from an elbow injury and Brian McCann hit a pair of homers.
Brett Gardner slugged the team's 15,000th home run as the Yankees, citing research from the Elias Sports Bureau, said they became the first club to reach the milestone. The total starts in 1903, the franchise's first year in New York.
Jeter became the first Yankee with four consecutive multihit games at age 40, finishing 2 for 4 with an RBI double. He's expected to play in each of the last seven games before heading off into retirement.
"Obviously, some of those days are going to be DH days to keep him going," manager Joe Girardi told MLB's official website. "He's swinging the bat and I'm going to keep him in there."
The hot streaks of Jeter and his team appear to have come too late. The Yankees are 4 1-2 games out of a wild-card spot and will need to pass three teams to earn one.
Jeter is hitless in 15 at-bats over a four-game stretch against Baltimore, which has taken 11 of 15 in the season series by posting a 2.51 ERA in that stretch. Adam Jones is batting .322 with three homers, five doubles and 10 RBIs in 14 games against New York this year.
The Orioles (93-62) had won four straight and 10 of 11 before dropping two of three to Boston over the weekend. David Lough had two hits and an RBI on Sunday, but Baltimore went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position in a 3-2 defeat.
The Orioles were without Nick Markakis and Steve Pearce due to minor injuries, and Jones got most of the day off before grounding out as a pinch-hitter.
"It's allowed us to do a lot of things we normally wouldn't be able to do," manager Buck Showalter said of locking up the division last week. "We're trying to keep our priorities in order here, and that's getting Steve back and getting Adam rested up some and getting Nicky back and getting our bullpen as good as they can be."
The Orioles will try to regroup behind Wei-Yin Chen (16-4, 3.58 ERA), who is coming off his fourth consecutive victory and ninth in 10 decisions. The left-hander allowed two runs over 5 2-3 innings to beat Toronto 5-2 last Monday.
Chen has posted a 1.45 ERA in his last three appearances. He's looking to become the Orioles' first 17-game winner since Mike Mussina went 18-7 in 1999.
Chen surrendered four runs over five innings to win 14-5 at Yankee Stadium on April 8, giving him a 1-3 record and 6.89 ERA in a six-start stretch in the series. Gardner is 5 for 12 with a homer and two doubles in their matchups.
New York's Michael Pineda has gone 0-3 despite a 2.45 ERA over his last four starts, a stretch in which he's received one total run of support. The right-hander gave up two runs - one earned - and four hits over 5 1-3 innings of Tuesday's 6-1 road loss to Tampa Bay.
Pineda (3-5, 2.15) hasn't recorded a decision in three career outings against the Orioles while compiling a 2.50 ERA. He threw five innings of one-run ball in a 5-3 defeat at Camden Yards on Aug. 13.
J.J. Hardy is 3 for 5 with two homers against Pineda.
Updated September 21, 2014
Related Stories - Baltimore Orioles:
