O's game blog: Texas is 20-11 against American League East this season

After back-to-back series losses to Minnesota and Kansas City, the Orioles start a three-game series at Texas tonight, facing the Rangers to wrap up a seven-game road trip.

The Orioles have lost seven of eight and eight of their past 10 games to fall to 63-64. They are eight games out in the American League East. Texas and Minnesota are tied for the second wild card spot right now, leading Los Angeles by a 1/2 game and the Orioles by 2 1/2 games.

The Orioles can do their fleeting playoff chances some good this weekend. They are 1-3 versus the Rangers this year after going 6-1 last season. They have won five of their past six games at Texas.

The Rangers (65-61) are playing good baseball, with four wins in six games and 19 in their past 27. They are 15-9 in August and 23-15 since the All-Star break.

Texas has a 20-11 record (.645) against the AL East, including a 9-5 mark at home. The Rangers' best single-season winning percentage against the East was its mark of .677 (42-20) in 1996.

The Orioles enter tonight's game ranking third in the majors with 168 home runs. They trail the Houston Astros (174) and Toronto Blue Jays (173). First baseman Chris Davis leads the team and ranks second in the majors with 35 home runs, and is fourth in the majors with 91 RBIs.

Second baseman Jonathan Schoop has now played 54 games on the season. He is batting .299 with 10 doubles, 10 homers and 30 RBIs, along with a slugging percentage of .516 and an OPS of .845.

But the Orioles have had plenty of problems recently, both at bat and on the mound. They have scored a total of 21 runs in their past nine losses, scoring three runs or less each time. Their starting rotation ERA is 5.41 over the last 27 games. In that time, O's starters have pitched fewer than six innings 13 times.

Tonight, Kevin Gausman (2-5, 4.30 ERA) makes his 19th appearance and 11th start. He is opposed by left-hander Cole Hamels (7-8, 3.82 ERA). Hamels is 1-1 with a 4.73 ERA in four starts since being traded from Philaelphia to Texas on July 31.

In his last start for the Phillies, Hamels pitched a no-hitter on July 25 at Wrigley Field. It was the first no-hittter against the Cubs since Sandy Koufax pitched one on Sept. 9, 1965. In two career starts against the Orioles, Hamels is 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA, but his last start against Baltimore came in 2009.

Gausman has recorded three consecutive quality starts, but is 0-2 in that stretch with an ERA of 3.60. He has five quality starts in his past six outings.

He will try to avoid first-inning issues tonight. He allowed a two-run homer in the first in his last outing on Sunday, when Minnesota's Miguel Sano took him deep. Gausman has allowed five first-inning homers in 10 innings and yields an average against of .383 in the opening inning.