O's game blog: Miguel Gonzalez on the mound for series finale at New York

While a lot of eyes will be on right-hander Masahiro Tanaka tonight as he makes his Yankee Stadium debut, Orioles fans will also be watching to check on a few things as well. They'll be checking to see if the club's offense is back on track and to see if Miguel Gonzalez can bounce back from his last outing. Gonzalez lasted just 3 1/3 innings Friday at Detroit, giving up nine hits and sevens runs for an ERA of 18.90. He allowed eight hits in 12 at-bats in that game against right-handed batters, including two doubles and two homers. Last season, Gonzalez went 0-2 with an ERA of 4.66 against the Yankees, but he actually threw well in four of his five starts against New York. Those outings went like this: * 6 IP, 2 ER * 7 IP, 2 ER * 6 IP, 1 ER * 4 IP, 7 ER * 6 IP, 3 ER That is four quality starts in five outings and an ERA of 2.88 in those four games. Gonzalez is 2-2 with an ERA of 4.01 in seven career starts against New York. Here are two stats that are pretty solid for Gonzalez: He is 11-7 with a 3.56 ERA the last two seasons against the AL East and the Orioles are 26-18 in his 44 career starts. Yankees starting pitchers take a pretty amazing streak into this game tonight. They have not walked a batter in the last five games. Over 29 innings, New York starters have 26 strikeouts and no bases on balls. It's their best run since a six-game streak in late 2002. So, can Gonzalez rebound with a nice outing tonight? How will the O's offense fare against Tanaka? That was exciting: Jonathan Schoop's second major league homer gave the Orioles a 3-0 lead in the top of the second tonight. He crushed one down the left field line that just stayed fair. The Yankees didn't challenge the fair ruling on the field. That was some blast by the kid who is now 4-for-9 over his last three games with two doubles, a homer and three RBIs since a 2-for-18 start. Here is an interesting Tanaka stat from his first start against Toronto: Left-handed hitters went just 1-for-14 against him while right-handed batters went 4-for-12. In the minors: Orioles 2013 minor league Pitcher of the Year Mike Wright made his season debut tonight for Triple-A Norfolk. He pitched five innings, giving up five hits and one unearned run. Wright walked one and fanned four before leaving with a 3-1 lead. Drew Dosch, the Orioles' seventh-round pick last June out of Youngstown State, is 2-for-2 with two RBIs for Single-A Delmarva tonight. Finally, another quality start: Gonzalez gave the Orioles just their second quality start of the season tonight. He went six innings in New York, allowing seven hits and three runs with one walk and three strikeouts. We pointed out in this article that he had four quality starts among five outings last season against the Yankees and he got another tonight. The game is tied 3-3 in the last of the seventh with Evan Meek in the game. O's starters other than Chris Tillman had an ERA of 8.49 coming into tonight.