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Yankees turn to Mussina against Orioles

Sep 18, 2007 - 1:09 PM Baltimore (64-85) at NY Yankees (86-64) 7:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - The New York Yankees continue their playoff push Tuesday when they meet the Baltimore Orioles.

After rookies Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes won the last two nights, the Yankees turn to veteran Mike Mussina (9-10, 5.28 ERA).

Mussina made his return to the rotation last Wednesday, allowing five hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings in beating Toronto.

New York, which has won 10 of its last 12 games, has closed within 3 1/2 games of first-place Boston (90-61) in the American League East. The Yankees are 3 1/2 games in front of Detroit (83-68) in the wild card race.

Hughes worked 5 2/3 effective innings and Hideki Matsui homered, leading the Yankees to an 8-5 win in the series opener.

Playing out the string, Baltimore has lost 20 of its last 26 games.

Taking the mound to try to put at least a temporary stop to the slide is righthander Jon Leicester (2-1, 6.32), a recent addition to the rotation who made five appearances out of the bullpen before making his first start September 8 against Boston, earning an 11-5 win.

Leicester has won both of his two starts, most recently tossing 5 2/3 strong innings in a 3-0 win over the Angels on Thursday.