Baltimore @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 6, 2011 ) Baltimore 3, NY Yankees 5

THE STORY: The New York Yankees take aim at their second consecutive series sweep and look to complete a 6-0 homestand when they host the skidding Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday afternoon. It will be a quick turnaround for both teams, which didn’t start Tuesday night’s game until after 11 p.m. following a four-hour rain delay. New York has won six straight games and leads Boston by 2 1/2 games in the American League East. After Wednesday’s game, the teams head back to Baltimore for a makeup game Thursday that will kick off a 10-game road trip for the Yankees.

TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, MASN, YES

PITCHING MATCHUP: Orioles LH Zach Britton (9-9, 4.22 ERA) vs. Yankees RH A.J. Burnett (9-11, 5.25 ERA).

The Yankees bring out the best – and worst – in Britton. The 23-year-old rookie has won three straight starts, including seven scoreless innings of four-hit ball in a 2-0 win over New York on Aug. 28. He also had a horrid outing against the Yankees on July 30, getting battered for nine runs in a season-low one-third of an inning. Britton has allowed only three runs in his three-game winning streak.

Burnett had one of his better outings in two months last time out, holding Boston to two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He still has only one win in his last 11 starts (1-5) since July 4 and has not pitched beyond six innings in his last six outings. He was shelled in Baltimore on Aug. 26, giving up nine runs on nine hits in five innings to drop to 12-6 lifetime against the Orioles.

ABOUT THE YANKEES (87-53): Despite dreary, wet conditions at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night, New York cranked out three more home runs to boost its major league-leading total to 200. Ironically, Nos. 199 and 200 came from two of the more unlikely power sources in Francisco Cervelli and Brett Gardner, who clubbed back-to-back homers. It was the fourth blast of the season – and third in four games – for Cervelli and seventh of the year for Gardner. Mariano Rivera picked up his second save in as many nights for his 39th save, putting him three away from tying Trevor Hoffman for the all-time lead. His next save will mark his eighth season of 40 or more.

ABOUT THE ORIOLES (55-85): Baltimore tumbled to its fourth consecutive defeat and fell to 3-13 against the Yankees this season. Matt Wieters provided one of the highlights with a two-run homer, the sixth time he has gone deep in his last 15 games. He has hit in six straight and 13 of the last 15 games, batting .375 (21-for-56) and collecting 17 RBIs during that stretch. Vlad Guerrero had a pair of hits to raise his career batting average against the Yankees to .315 (111-for-352). Nick Markakis also had two hits and an RBI double to give him a .305 career average vs. New York.

FINAL PITCH: Rivera has converted all 21 of his save opportunities at home. He secured his 69th and 70th saves against the Orioles in the first two games of the series, the most any pitcher has had against one team.