O's game blog: It's Gausman and Gibson in Minnesota, plus notes from the farm

After losing four of five and six of their last eight games, the Orioles look to get back in the win column tonight at Minnesota. The Twins won 4-2 last night on Brian Dozier's walk-off two-run homer in the 10th inning. Minnesota is 44-39 and 26-15 at home.

The Orioles have lost their last four games decided by one or two runs and have scored four runs total in their last four losses.

O's starting pitching, though, has been very good lately with an ERA of 1.85 and five quality starts over the past six games. The O's starters allowed two earned runs or less in all six games, but the lack of runs recently led to a 2-4 record.

On the mound tonight, Kevin Gausman (1-0, 3.09 ERA) makes his 11th appearance and third major league start of the season, facing right-hander Kyle Gibson (6-6, 3.04 ERA).

Gausman pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings last Thursday versus Texas and has an ERA of 1.59 in his two starts. Over his past 17 1/3 innings for the Orioles, he has walked three and fanned 16, with an ERA of 1.04.

Gibson pitched eight scoreless against Kansas City in his last start and is 2-1 with a 1.83 ERA his past three starts. He is 3-3 with a 2.92 ERA in eight home starts.

Notes from the farm: Triple-A Norfolk's Dariel Alvarez will be one of six to compete in the Triple-A All-Star Game Home Run Derby competition next Monday at Omaha, Neb.

Alvarez, the No. 5 O's prospect according to Baseball America, is batting .272 with 12 homers and 43 RBIs. He is tied with Double-A Bowie's Trey Mancini for the O's homer lead among minor leaguers. Alvarez will be the first Norfolk player to appear in a home run derby since Craig Brazell in 2004.

Norfolk has three pitchers that rank in the top five among International League ERA leaders. Michael Bowden at 2.17 is first, Chris Jones at 2.59 is third and Zach Davies ranks fifth at 2.70. Davies will pitch in the All-Star Futures Game this Sunday.

Double-A Bowie right-hander Terry Doyle has been named Eastern League Player of the Month for June. Doyle was also named the Orioles organization Pitcher of the Month for June, was selected for the Eastern League All-Star Game to be played July 15 and was named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week on June 8.

Doyle made five starts during the month and went 4-0 with a 1.54 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 35 innings. Since entering the starting rotation May 17, Doyle is 6-1 with a 1.98 ERA and two shutouts, and his 2.09 ERA for the season ranks fifth in the league.

Short-season Single-A Aberdeen has now won three in a row and seven of nine since a 2-7 start. The IronBirds, which features 14 players from the 2015 draft class, are 9-9 overall and completed a three-game sweep at Mahoning Valley on Monday night.

The Orioles are still working to sign their second-round draft pick, high school pitcher Jonathan Hughes, who was selected No. 68 overall. While no signing appears imminent, the Orioles remain confident they will get Hughes. They have signed 35 of their 41 draft picks and are looking to add Hughes and possibly one more before the signing deadline on July 17 at 5 p.m.

With Dylan Bundy and Hunter Harvey both missing time this year with injuries, the Orioles had no players ranked in the midseason Top 50 prospects list released today by Baseball America.