The New York Yankees swept their first meeting earlier this year, but nobody is playing better than the Baltimore Orioles right now. After Wilson Betemit’s heroics Sunday night, the Orioles have won five of their last six and are 14-8 overall.

Baltimore now has to prove it can contend for the division tonight against the Yankees as the teams start a three game series in the Bronx.

The Yankees have dominated the series, winning 40 of the last 52 meetings. But the Orioles have been so far out of contention, it hasn’t really mattered. Now, the Orioles are six games over .500 for the first time since 2005 and sit tied for first in the AL East standings with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Betemit’s bomb meant more than just a win. The Orioles have been historically bad late in games, going 5-83 when trailing after the seventh inning last year.

After Sunday, Baltimore already has five wins after trailing in the seventh.

”We got a team where everybody pulls together,” Betemit said. “Everybody knows how to play, knows how to win, and that’s what we do.”

Manager Buck Showalter will be going for his 1,000th career win.

Jason Hammel gets the start tonight, hoping to extend his brilliant start to the year. He’s been a big reason for the team’s fast start, going 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA. Hammel hasn’t allowed more than two runs in any start this year while keeping opposing hitters down to a .194 batting average.

“For a long time, it took me a while to build confidence,” Hammel told his team’s website. “I got hit around a bit. Only when I started to care about being a pitcher did my confidence go up.

“Obviously, the results are showing it.”

His history against New York? Not so good. The Yankees have partied against Hammel with a .322 average and eight homers in 29 innings.

Hideki Kuroda is tasked with matching him, and who knows what New York will get out of him. Kuroda has a pair of really good performances this year matched by two equally unimpressive starts. He didn’t win last week against the Texas Rangers despite surrendering just two runs and five hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Alex Rodriguez moved past Willie Mays on the career RBI list this past weekend. His two RBI against the Tigers gave him sole possession of ninth with 1,604.

The Yankees are favored by Bovada by 1 1/2 runs with a -173 moneyline.