Series victory against Yankees would go long way for Orioles

against the Minnesota Twins and the Houston Astros, or did the baseball gods just throw them a couple of bones Thursday and Friday before the New York Yankees give them a weekend reality check?

We’ll find out today, but there is one big positive to be derived from the two victories in the series so far. The Orioles have played — and pitched — the Yankees tough for all but a handful of innings at Yankee Stadium, which is a dramatic turnabout from last season.

Even with the eight runs the Yankees scored with their late-inning surge Saturday, the Orioles have outscored them 15-13 through three games. No one needs a calculator to figure out that the Orioles pitching staff has managed to limit the power-laden Yankees lineup to just over four runs per game, and 3.8 runs per nine innings if you include the five extra innings Friday night.

If you recall, the second iteration of “The House That Ruth Built” became a torture chamber for the struggling Orioles pitching staff in 2017. The Yankees averaged 10.2 runs in the 10 games the teams played in the Bronx and they spread all those runs out pretty evenly, scoring at least 30 runs in each of the three series.

Of course, those were the days when the Orioles were working with one consistent pitcher in the rotation. They made two significant acquisitions this spring to address that situation and there are hopeful signs that the rotation will be improved, though there were a couple of big hiccups during the first week of the season.

Right-hander Andrew Cashner gave up three home runs in his Orioles debut against the Twins, but he bounced back to deliver a terrific performance Thursday night in his first-ever start at Yankee Stadium.

Kevin Gausman also struggled in his first start of the season, then held the Yankees to two runs over five innings Friday night.

Even Tillman, who still needs to overcome some command problems, hung tough into the sixth inning and threw the most pitches he has thrown in a start since the end of the 2016 season. His line didn’t look good when he left, but he showed progress against a difficult Yankees lineup.

The bullpen also has settled down after a rocky start and the Orioles might have discovered another good young reliever in Rule 5 draftee Pedro Araujo, who earned his first major league victory in a stressful extra-inning outing Friday.

What does all this mean at a point when the Orioles have won just three of their first nine games and the first-place Boston Red Sox are already on a big roll?

It could mean a lot if they can hold on until free-agent arrival Alex Cobb is ready join the rotation and the lineup kicks it into a higher gear. Getting a third win at Yankee Stadium this weekend and winning their first series against an American League East rival would be a big step in the right direction.