Notes on the rotation, Schoop and more

The Orioles have tweaked their rotation for the Mariners series at Safeco Field.

The club announced that Wei-Yin Chen will start Monday night, followed by Chris Tillman on Tuesday and Kevin Gausman on Wednesday. Tillman was supposed to start the opener, but he's being pushed back one more day.

The Mariners are starting left-hander Vidal Nuno, Taijuan Walker and Hisashi Iwakuma.

Orioles second baseman Jonathan Schoop is rising up the order as his average continues to climb.

Schoop is batting sixth tonight for only the second time this season. It's also his third career start in that slot.

Schoop went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while batting sixth earlier this year. He's 1-for-10 with an RBI lifetime.

Manager Buck Showalter is raising the hot hand. Schoop is batting .524 during his six-game hitting streak, going 11-for-21 with three doubles a home run, two RBIs and four runs scored.

Schoop also has hit safely in 10 of his last 12 games when he's received an at-bat. His season average has jumped from .254 on July 24 to a season-high .306 heading into tonight.

There's more. Schoop also is sporting a .342 on-base percentage and .577 slugging percentage. His average and slugging percentage rank first on the team, though he's been limited to 35 games due to a knee injury suffered in Boston. His on-base percentage ranks second to Manny Machado's .362.

Machado and Chris Davis are second in slugging percentage at .514.

Schoop is batting .333/.368/.653 with six home runs against right-handers this season, and he's facing one tonight in the Angels' Garrett Richards.

In Schoop's career, the Orioles are 23-3 when he hits a home run. It didn't work last night.

Matt Wieters is serving as the designated hitter tonight. He's 3-for-24 in that role this season and 31-for-155 (.200) in his career.

Down on the farm, Triple-A Norfolk's Steve Johnson threw two scoreless innings last night. He's allowed two earned runs in 19 1/3 innings over his last 11 appearances, with four walks and 19 strikeouts. Opponents are batting .180.

Oliver Drake hasn't allowed a run in 26 consecutive appearances since April 26, and opponents are batting .115 with 39 strikeouts in 26 innings. He's walked 14 and struck out 54 in 34 innings this season.

Michael Bowden set the club record for consecutive scoreless innings with 28 earlier this season.

First baseman Christian Walker has seven doubles, seven home runs and 23 RBIs in 22 games since the break.