O's game blog: O's face Miguel Gonzalez in series opener at Chicago

CHICAGO - After taking two of three at home against the American League Central-leading Rangers, the Orioles begin a key 10-game road trip at U.S. Cellular Field against the Chicago White Sox.

The Orioles are 61-46 and tied for the AL East lead with Toronto. They are looking to improve on a 22-29 road record that has seen them lose 12 of their past 18 away from Oriole Park.

On the mound tonight, Yovani Gallardo (3-3, 5.70 ERA) pitches against former Oriole Miguel Gonzalez (2-5, 4.06 ERA).

Gallardo took a shutout into the last of the fifth at Toronto on Saturday, but quickly got into trouble that inning and was pulled with the Orioles trailing the Blue Jays 2-1. Toronto went on to score seven runs that inning and win the game 9-1. He was charged with five runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings.

In nine starts since his return from the disabled list, Gallardo is 2-2 with a 5.21 ERA. He has recorded just two quality starts among his 13 outings, but the Orioles are 8-5 in those starts. In eight road starts, Gallardo is 1-3 with a 7.32 ERA.

Gonzalez was released by the Orioles late in spring training after going 1-4 with a 9.78 ERA and .412 average against in six spring training games. This came after he went on the DL twice last year and was 9-12 with a 4.91 ERA in 2015.

But Gonzalez had plenty of good moments in an Orioles uniform, going 39-33 with a 3.82 ERA in 101 games with 95 starts. He was a part of the 2012 and 2014 playoff teams and he pitched to an ERA of 1.42 in two playoff starts as an Oriole.

He is the answer to this question: Who was the last O's pitcher to throw a complete game? It was Gonzalez with a complete-game shutout against Cincinnati on Sept. 3, 2014. It will probably be rather strange for the Orioles to be batting against him tonight.

The Orioles went 2-2 versus the White Sox from April 28-May 1 during a four-game series at Camden Yards. The Orioles are 19-7 on the season against teams from the AL Central.

Chicago (52-56) ended a three-game losing streak with Thursday's 6-3 win at Detroit. Avisail Garcia and Jose Abreu homered in the win. The White Sox are 7-13 since the All-Star break and have lost six of their last eight games.

Mercedes and Rodgriguez honored: The Single-A South Atlantic League has named Delmarva catcher Yermin Mercedes the Player of the Month for July. Mercedes, recently promoted to Single-A Frederick, hit for a .375 average in 26 games with 12 doubles, four home runs and 14 RBIs. He led the Sally League in hits (36), extra-base hits (17) and OPS (1.105) in the month.

Mercedes left the Shorebirds with the league's highest batting average (.353), best slugging percentage (.579), second-highest OBP (.411) and fourth most home runs (14). He totaled 383 plate appearances, which surpassed the 376 necessary to qualify for the league batting title at the end of the season. So he can win the batting title even though he is no longer in the league. Mercedes has gotten off to an 0-for-15 start in his first four games with the Keys.

The Carolina League today named Frederick infielder Aderlin Rodriguez as its Player of the Month for July. The 24-year-old Rodriguez batted .375 in the month with seven doubles, two triples, eight homers and 29 RBIs. He produced a .688 slugging percentage and 1.110 OPS in July. This is the third straight month the Keys had the Player of the Month, with pitcher Matthew Grimes taking the honor in May and outfielder Conor Bierfeldt in June.