O's game blog: Nelson Cruz homer numbers

The Nelson Cruz show continues tonight for the Orioles. Cruz is now batting .310 in 51 games with 19 homers, 49 RBIs and a 1.038 OPS. Last night, Cruz did not homer and that was news. It was just the third time in the last 10 games where he did not hit a homer. Cruz now leads the majors in home runs and is tied for the major league lead in RBIs. In the American League, he ranks first in homers, RBIs, slugging and total bases while ranking second in extra-base hits and 10th in batting average. Cruz leads the AL in at-bats per homer: 10.37 - Nelson Cruz, Orioles 11.53 - Jose Abreu, White Sox 11.83 - Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays Chris Davis had 19 homers by the end of May last year on his way to 53. Cruz has two games to pass that mark. Can Cruz keep up with Davis' pace? Davis went on to hit 12 homers in June, his most in any month last year and had 37 by the All-Star break. Cruz hit six in April and has hit a club-record 12 in May. He has homered in every inning except the ninth, hitting five each in the fifth and sixth innings. Cruz has hit seven homers at home and 12 on the road. He'll look for No. 20 tonight at Houston. In the second game of this series tonight, Miguel Gonzalez (3-3, 4.35 ERA) faces left-hander Brett Oberholtzer (1-6, 5.32 ERA). Oberholtzer pitched seven scoreless innings in a start last July against the O's. Gonzalez is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA over his last three starts, all of which are quality starts. In his 52 career starts, the Orioles are 31-21. Good pitching on the farm: Orioles 2013 top draft pick Hunter Harvey pitched another good game tonight. He went six innings for Single-A Delmarva at Lakewood and gave one unearned run on two hits. He walked two and fanned seven. His ERA is now 1.68 and he has given up one run or less in six of his 10 starts. Also tonight, Kevin Gausman gave up two runs in four innings, throwing 82 pitches for Triple-A Norfolk. Tyler Wilson allowed three runs over eight innings for Double-A Bowie. Parker Bridwell went seven innings, giving up just one run for Single-A Frederick. The four pitchers combined to pitch 25 innings, giving up 15 hits and seven runs (six earned) with eight walks and 27 strikeouts. That is a 2.16 ERA on the farm for those starters tonight.