Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees Game 2 – 9/4/20 MLB Pick, Odds, and Prediction
2020-09-04 17:05:00 EDT
The New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles meet Friday in MLB action from Oriole Park.
This will be game two of a doubleheader, and the second installment of a four-game weekend set between these AL East teams. New York played a one-off game versus the Mets Thursday. In that one, the Yankees blew two substantial leads and fell in extra innings on a walk-off homer 9-7. As for the Orioles, they played two games against the Mets this week. Baltimore won 9-5 Tuesday but fell Wednesday 9-4 to split. Check back all season long for free MLB picks and MLB predictions at Sports Chat Place.
The Yankees’ bullpen was embarrassed yet again on Thursday, and blew yet another lead. The pitching staff as a whole gave up 14 hits, along with five runs in the final three innings. Aroldis Chapman allowed a solo homer in the ninth inning to blow the save, and Zack Britton coughed up three hits and two earned with a walk in his one inning. This is turning into a major problem for New York, which is strange since the bullpen is supposed to be one of the team’s strengths.
For the Friday game two starting pitcher role, New York is rolling with highly-touted rookie Deivi Garcia.
Over on the Baltimore side, they’ve gotten some pretty decent offense from a few spots on their roster this year. Anthony Santander leads the team with 11 home runs and 32 RBI, and also has 24 runs with a .268 batting average. Renato Nunez is also having a solid campaign on a .270 average, 22 runs, 37 hits, nine homers and 22 RBI.
In the game two starting pitcher role Friday, the Orioles are sending out Jorge Lopez. Over five games and one start without a decision this year, Lopez has a 7.53 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 14.1 innings. Lopez is a 6.01 ERA pitcher over his MLB career with a 7-15 record and 168 Ks in 203.2 innings of work.
The Yankees are 11-4 in their last 15 second games of a doubleheader and 64-28 in their last 92 versus the American League East. New York is 4-10 in their last 14 overall and 4-10 in their last 14 games on grass.
Meanwhile, the Orioles are 110-228 in their last 338 games on grass and 121-262 in their last 383 overall. Baltimore is 102-225 in the last 327 games as an underdog and 23-55 in their last 78 versus the American League East.
Pick: I’m sticking with the Yankees, but I’m beginning to kick myself for trusting them through this downward slide. The Mets game was an outright embarrassment, as the Yanks blew leads of 4-0 and 7-4 against a team they should be dominating. Granted, the Yankees do have a bunch of major injuries to deal with right now, but going 1-2 versus the Rays and 3-3 versus the Mets over the past week or so is simply unacceptable for a team that’s still the supposed favorite in the American League. New York really, really needs a strong showing this weekend.
