Gausman deals, Machado homers as O's take series finale

Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman pitched a gem. Manny Machado hit a blast. Those were the highlights this afternoon as the two former Orioles first-round picks led the club to a 7-1 win over the Rays at Oriole Park.

Using a fastball that nearly hit 100 mph and a, at times, swing-and-miss splitter, Gausman threw seven scoreless innings, allowing only two singles. No Rays runner reached third against him. He walked two and fanned nine to tie a season high in strikeouts and come within one of a career best. He threw 112 pitches, 71 strikes, and improved to 5-7 with an ERA of 5.61.

He shut down a Rays team that had scored 16 runs and hit six homers over the last two nights in taking the first two games of the series. Gausman averaged 96 mph on his four-seam fastball and topped at 99 mph.

Gausman has recorded back-to-back scoreless starts. He has thrown 12 1/3 innings, allowing six hits, over his past two games. The seven-inning outing ties for his longest of the year, done once before.

The Orioles today reached the midpoint of the season and are 40-41 at the 81-game mark. They moved to within 1 1/2 games of the third-place Rays and denied Tampa Bay its first three-game sweep in Baltimore since May 17-19, 2013.

With a big boost from a critical throwing error, the Orioles took a 4-0 lead in the last of the third. Caleb Joseph's bloop single started the inning, Rubén Tejada was hit by a pitch and Joey Rickard advanced both with a sac bunt. Then pitcher Alex Cobb made a big mistake on a Seth Smith dribbler to the third base side of the mound. Cobb airmailed the throw past first as a run scored. Smith wound up on second and Tejada on third.

They both could jog home when Machado ripped a three-run homer to left for a 4-0 lead. Machado had gone 10 games with a homer, batting .154. He was 1-for-19 in his last five games before today. But he connected off Cobb and his 16th homer traveled 403 feet.

When Mark Trumbo homered to lead off the fourth, the lead grew to 5-0. Trumbo hit No. 12 on 0-1 fastball for his second homer in three games. He has hit eight of his homers at Oriole Park.

The lead grew to 7-0 on Smith's two-run double off the glove of center fielder Mallex Smith in the seventh. It scored Joseph and Tejada, both singling to start the inning. Joseph had three hits and is 9-for-14 his past five games.

The O's bid for a shutout ended when catcher Jesús Sucre led off the Tampa Bay eighth with his fourth home run, connecting off Mychal Givens.

The Orioles fly to Milwaukee tonight and face the Brewers Monday through Wednesday before starting a four-game series Thursday at Minnesota to end the first half.

Britton note: For weather-related reasons, the Orioles have moved Zach Britton's last scheduled minor league rehab game tomorrow night from Triple-A Norfolk to Single-A Frederick. He will pitch for the Keys in tomorrow's 7 p.m. game at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium.