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Orioles aim to sweep Yankees

May 28, 2008 - 12:51 PM NY Yankees (25-27) at Baltimore (26-25) 7:05 pm EDT

BALTIMORE (Ticker) - The Baltimore Orioles will be attempting to complete a sweep of a three-game series when they host the New York Yankees on Wednesday.

Suffering through a five-game losing streak before entering the series, the Orioles took the opener of the series, 6-1, on Monday and pounded their way to a wild win in the second game.

The two clubs combined for nine home runs before the sixth inning on Tuesday, going into the ninth tied, 8-8. After New York was retired in the top of the frame, the tarp came onto the field for a rain delay that lasted more than an hour.

When the game eventually resumed, the Yankees grabbed a 9-8 lead in the top of the 11th thanks to a pair of errors by Melvin Mora. But the third baseman atoned for the miscues in the bottom of the frame when he led off with a single and came all the way around to score the tying run on Aubrey Huff's double.

Alex Cintron singled over a drawn-in outfield to plate the game-winner.

New York has followed the opposite path lately, entering the series winners of five straight before dropping the first two games.

The Yankees will try to avoid the sweep behind lefthander Andy Pettitte (4-5, 4.27 ERA). The veteran hurler allowed two runs and eight hits while striking out nine in six innings Friday to earn his first win in his last four decisions.

Baltimore will counter with righthander Jeremy Guthrie (2-5, 3.62), who gave up one run and four hits in 6 2/3 innings, walking three while striking out five, but still suffered the loss during Friday's 2-0 setback to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Guthrie has been the victim of poor run support this season, allowing three earned runs or less in nine of his 11 starts, but managing just a pair of victories.