Gonzalez hoping to take some air out of Orioles' ERA

Miguel Gonzalez is hoping tonight to eliminate chasing home plate from his cardio routine.

Gonzalez walked five batters in 5 2/3 innings in his first start Wednesday against the Rays at Tropicana Field. He allowed only one run and three hits, but the lapses in control elevated his pitch count and shortened his evening.

Gonzalez is 2-2 with a 3.88 ERA in 10 career starts against the Yankees. Carlos Beltran is 3-for-3 with a double and home run against him, but the current Yankees are a collective 17-for-84 (.202).

Mark Teixeira is 0-for-12, but it's understandable. He used to attend Orioles games as a kid and wished that he could go hitless against Gonzalez.

Left-hander CC Sabathia is 18-6 with a 3.34 ERA in 30 career starts against the Orioles, but he went 2-2 with a 4.46 ERA in five starts in 2013 and 0-2 with a 6.38 ERA in three starts in 2012 before the playoffs. He didn't face the Orioles last season.

Sabathia is 10-5 with a 3.61 ERA in 18 starts at Camden Yards.

Delmon Young figures to be in the lineup tonight. He's 10-for-36 (.278) with three doubles and a home run vs. Sabathia. Everth Cabrera is 4-for-4 with a triple and Travis Snider is 2-for-7 (.286) with a home run.

The Orioles have scored five runs or more in four consecutive games and gone 1-3. The staff ERA rose last night from 4.75 to 4.94. The bullpen has been scored upon in all seven games, registering a 5.40 ERA.

Tommy Hunter served up his third career grand slam last night, with Stephen Drew taking him deep. Hunter allowed his last slam to Mitch Moreland on Aug. 22, 2012 in Texas.

"At 156 games, I'm not going to get involved in patterns and developing this and whatever," manager Buck Showalter said yesterday afternoon. "It's the evolution of the season. We're kind of going to see who we are. It'll be there one way or the other. But that's the nice thing about having guys with a track record. You know sooner or later they will end up somewhere close to that track record.

"Obviously, (Sunday) wasn't a day for Chris Tillman. Usually, he has some bumps early and he finds his step. That was unusual with Chris. You could tell he just wasn't going to be able to get into a consistency that he's been able to do for us in the past."

One of the most impressive components of Wei-Yin Chen's outing last night was how he needed only eight pitches to get through the first inning. It has been a chore for Orioles starters this season.

"One of the problems is, our pitching staff gives up a lot of foul balls. We do," Showalter said. "I think we were No. 1 in all of baseball last year in most foul balls given up that weren't caught. I've got my own theories why, but we kind of like the end game."

And finally, here's a tweet sent last night by former Orioles reliever Ryan Webb, who signed a minor league deal with the Indians:

I've grown as a person and player from being a part of a great Orioles org. Best of luck to my former teammates,it's a special group of guys

-- Ryan Webb (@RyanWebb58) April 14, 2015