Orioles Look For Second Straight Sweep
(AP) -- The Baltimore Orioles are on the brink of their longest winning streak in 10 years, and they can point to a red-hot Manny Machado and the return of Matt Wieters as big reasons why.
The Orioles attempt to complete a sweep of this three-game set with the visiting New York Yankees on Sunday.
Baltimore (31-30) has won six in a row and eight of nine after a 9-4 victory Saturday. The Orioles haven't put together a longer winning streak since taking eight straight from April 22-May 1, 2005.
"We finally got pieces coming back and the team's playing well," Machado said. "We are finally playing as a team."
Wieters is 8 for 23 (.348) with five extra-base hits and four RBIs in six games after starting the season on the disabled list while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Machado has gone 14 for 30 with three homers and seven RBIs in seven games after collecting five hits in the first two of this series. The third baseman has batted .400 in his last 14 meetings with New York (33-28), delivering a two-run homer among his three hits and matching a career high with four RBIs on Saturday.
Wieters added a pair of doubles and scored twice.
The Orioles are hitting .325 with 10 homers and averaging 6.5 runs over their last six. They've scored 20 runs and recorded 31 hits - five homers - in this series.
"Guys are in a little bit of a flow," manager Buck Showalter said. "You've got a lot of different guys contributing."
Showalter is looking for rookie Mike Wright (2-1, 2.96 ERA) to become another as he takes the mound in place of Miguel Gonzalez, who is on the DL with a groin strain.
Wright was demoted to Triple-A Norfolk on June 5 after surrendering eight runs and 14 hits - four homers - in 10 innings while splitting his last two starts with Baltimore. He was recalled Thursday.
The right-hander will face the Yankees (33-28) for the first time as the Orioles go for their first sweep in the series since June 28-30, 2013. New York has followed a season-high seven-game winning streak by losing three straight.
Adam Warren (4-4, 3.64) has won two of his past three starts with a 2.25 ERA, but a pair of days off this week means he hasn't started since an 8-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels last Saturday. The right-hander yielded two runs and four hits in 6 2-3 innings, reaching the seventh for a fifth straight start.
"I feel comfortable going deeper in the game," said Warren, who switched from the bullpen to the rotation this year. "Early on, the game just seemed so much longer to me."
Warren gave up two runs and seven hits with three walks in 4 2-3 innings of a 5-4 win in his only career start against Baltimore on May 8. Machado is 6 for 7 off him after going 3 for 3 in that game.
Alex Rodriguez is five hits shy of 3,000. His two-run homer Saturday gave him 2,001 RBIs, joining Hank Aaron (2,297) as the only players to reach 2,000.
"You want to do these things and help the team win," said Rodriguez, 8 for 21 (.381) with three homers and seven RBIs in his last six games against the Orioles.
