O's game blog: Kevin Gausman faces Chicago in Game 2 of series

CHICAGO - The Orioles have won back-to-back games on the road just once this year when they did so April 5-6 at Yankee Stadium. A win tonight over the White Sox in Chicago would give them two straight road wins.

The Orioles (15-32) are 5-19 on the road, 1-6 in seven road series and 7-5 over their past 12 games.

Manny Machado hit his 15th home run last night. He is tied for the Major League lead with Boston's Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. He leads the big leagues with 43 RBIs. Machado has hit six homers his past 11 games and 12 over his past 29. In his last 10 games versus Chicago, Machado is batting .317 (13-for-41) with five homers and 11 RBIs. On Aug. 7, 2016 at Chicago, Machado hit three homers and drove in seven versus the White Sox. That day Machado joined Carl Reynolds of the 1930 White Sox as the only players to ever hit three homers in the first three innings of a game.

Adam Jones hit his eighth homer last night. He has hit safely in 15 of his last 16 games, batting .344 (22-for-64) with four homers and eight RBIs. Jones is 7-for-16 his past four games.

The Orioles beat Tampa Bay 17-1 a week ago Sunday. But in six games since then they have scored just 16 runs. They improved to 3-23 when scoring three runs or less with Monday's 3-2 victory.

Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman (3-3, 3.88 ERA) gets the start tonight. In his last outing on Thursday at Boston he lost in the road trip opener. Over 4 2/3 he allowed eight hits, six runs and two homers.

Still, Gausman has mostly been pitching well since his first few outings of 2018. Over his past five starts, his ERA is 2.86. Over his last seven games he is 3-2 with a 3.09 ERA.

Right-hander James Shields (1-4, 4.88 ERA) will make the start for Chicago. On Thursday versus Texas he gave up one run and three hits over 7 1/3, throwing 98 pitches. In six home starts, he is 0-2 with a 4.66 ERA. He has a first-inning ERA of 9.00 allowing three homers over nine innings.

Lefty batters hit .188 against him with an OPS of .572 and right-handed batters hit .262/.711. He has recorded four quality starts and the White Sox are 3-6 in his nine outings.

Orioles left fielder Trey Mancini recorded two outfield assists in the fifth inning on Monday night. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mancini is one of just two players in Orioles history with two outfield assists in the same inning. That was first done by left fielder Don Buford on June 25, 1970 at Boston in the first inning. According to STATS, LLC., the last player in the majors with two outfield assists in the same inning was left fielder José Osuna of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who did so on July 6, 2017 at Philadelphia in the second inning. Mancini is tied for the MLB lead with six outfield assists this season.