O's game blog: Kevin Gausman faces Michael Fulmer in series opener

DETROIT - The Orioles' three-city, nine-game road trip makes its second stop tonight. The Detroit Tigers (75-64) host the Orioles (76-63) for a three-game series. Just one game separates the teams in the race for the second American League wild card berth, with the Orioles currently holding the spot.

While this series takes place, the Toronto Blue Jays host Boston for three games this weekend at Rogers Centre. Boston is the AL East leader by one game over Toronto and two games over the Orioles. The O's hold the one-game lead on the Tigers for the second wild card, with the Yankees two games back and the Astros 2 1/2 out

The Orioles have won four of six and six of their past 10 games. They are 31-38 on the road. Detroit has won six of nine and 11 of 16 games, and is 39-28 at home.

On the mound in the series opener are right-hander Kevin Gausman (7-10, 3.58 ERA) for the Orioles and right-hander Michael Fulmer (10-6, 2.77 ERA) for Detroit.

Over his last three starts, Gausman has thrown 19 scoreless innings against the Nationals and then twice versus the Yankees. In that span, he has allowed 15 hits and four walks with 19 strikeouts. Gausman was the winning pitcher in just three of his first 21 starts to the season, but is now 4-0 with an ERA of 1.40 over his last four starts.

He has 15 quality starts to tie Chris Tillman for the team lead. In 10 starts since the All-Star game, Gausman is 6-4 with a 2.73 ERA and .241 average against. In 14 road starts, he is 1-9 with an ERA of 4.82.

Gausman faced Fulmer and the Tigers on May 15 in Baltimore. He went five innings, allowing 10 hits and four runs, throwing 98 pitches. In four career starts, he is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA against the Tigers.

The 23-year-old Fulmer was the 44th overall pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft. He has had an excellent rookie season, one that has included 13 quality starts in 22 outings and a home record of 2-2 with a 2.95 ERA over seven starts.

From May 21-July 17, Fulmer went 7-1 record with a 0.83 ERA. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since the major leagues began keeping track of earned runs just over 100 years ago, no other pitcher has compiled an ERA that low over a span of 10 successive starts in the season of his major league debut.

But over his past three starts, Fulmer is 0-3 with an ERA of 6.48, allowing 12 earned runs in 16 2/3 innings. In his only career start against the Orioles in May, he gave up five runs and five hits over 4 1/3 innings at Camden Yards.

Lefty batters are hitting .215 against him and right-handed batters are hitting .230. He yields an average of just .228 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles went 3-1 against the Tigers in May in Baltimore, outscoring Detroit 22-14. Jonathan Schoop went 6-for-14 in that series with two homers and 10 RBIs. Adam Jones went 7-for-15 with two doubles, two homers and four RBIs. For the Tigers, Miguel Cabrera went 4-for-15 with two homers and six RBIs.