Game 94: Final game of the first half

It's been an up and down first half of the season for the Yankees to this point, and it comes to a close tonight in Baltimore on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball.

The Yankees and Orioles have split the first two games of this series -- the Orioles won in 10 innings on Friday night with a 3-2 victory, then the Yanks came back on Saturday to win 3-0, getting a very strong performance from Shane Greene, who tossed 7 1/3 shutout innings, giving up just four hits while striking out nine.

Entering play just four games back of the AL East leading Orioles, the Yankees (47-45) will look to get back a game on Baltimore, while also going into the break with some momentum that they'll hope to bring with them into the second half of the season.

Tonight's lineup against Baltimore:

CF Brett Gardner
SS Derek Jeter
DH Jacoby Ellsbury
1B Mark Teixeira
C Brian McCann
2B Brian Roberts
RF Ichiro Suzuki
LF Kelly Johnson
3B Yangervis Solarte

* The Yankees have called up right-hander Bryan Mitchell from the minor leagues to give them an extra arm in the bullpen -- I guess they've realized Whitley hasn't been dependable lately. In a corresponding move, Zoilo Almonte was optioned down to Triple-A.

Pitching matchup preview:

Chase Whitley will be on the mound for the Yankees tonight, making his first start since being moved into the bullpen when the Yankees acquired Brandon McCarthy from the Diamondbacks last weekend. Whitley's last start was against the Minnesota Twins, when he gave up four runs on eight hits in just three innings of work.

He was moved to the bullpen a couple days after, making an appearance against the Indians on Wednesday, tossing two scoreless innings.

Over his last three starts, Whitley has allowed 17 earned runs in nine innings. Hopefully get can get back on track and starting pitching just as he was after being called up in May.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman will oppose Whitley and the Yankees tonight after being recalled from Triple-A on Friday to take the spot of Ubaldo Jimenez, who was suppose to start against the Yankees yesterday before he was placed on the DL with an ankle injury.

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