The pitching roll continues, Markakis and Young speak, plus a take on Gausman

The Orioles' pitching roll continued last night, even though they gave up twice as many runs in the game against Toronto as they had the previous three games.

They gave up two last night and had allowed just one in the three-game series against Boston. That is a team ERA of 0.75 over the last four games for Orioles pitchers.

After the win last night, Nick Markakis talked about the recent run of solid pitching and how Kevin Gausman kept it going against Toronto.

"It's big," Markakis said. "If you can get your team off the field as quick as possible and get back up to the plate, I won't say it's easy, but that makes your confidence as hitters go up. You know you'll get back in there. That is how you get on streaks and get things going.

"(Gausman's) last two outings have been probably the best in baseball. He's really come a long way since the first time he came up."

Meanwhile, Delmon Young hit his second homer of the year. His two-run shot off Mark Buehrle was big and gave the O's the early lead. The Orioles have scored five runs in the first inning of the last two games.

Young was asked how big the series against Toronto is to the team.

"It could be big or it could be small," he said. "We just have to come out and play good baseball. Still have three more months after this though. We could sweep here, but if we play lousy the rest of the year, it doesn't matter."

Young is batting .295 on the year. How does he keep his bat going while not getting much playing time?

"Stay loose. I play cards, mess around with the guys," he said. "This game, you can throw in two hand grenades, get lucky and connect and have a great day. Or you can have really good at-bats, drive the ball everywhere and be 0-for-4. Just have to stay loose and don't press when you finally get to go play."

More notes on the O's and Blue Jays:

* The Orioles have recorded a season-high four straight quality starts. Over those games, O's starters have pitched 27 innings, allowing 19 hits and two runs for an ERA of 0.67.

* Markakis is batting .413 in the first inning this season with six runs, three doubles and an RBI. Of his 83 hits, 26 have come in the opening inning.

* The Orioles have now won three of their last four and eight of 12 games. They improved to 15-15 at home and are at the .500 mark at Camden Yards for the first time since they were 9-9 on May 13.

* Toronto's Mark Buehrle made his 443rd consecutive start without a DL stint last night. That is the longest current streak in the majors.

* Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion didn't hit a homer last night, but over his last 35 games since May 6, he has hit 18 homers. In his past 48 games, he has hit 20 homers with 49 RBIs.

* When Juan Francisco doubled in the fifth inning, it snapped a 23-inning streak by Orioles pitchers without giving up an extra-base hit.

* The Orioles are 16-9 in games against American League East opponents, while Toronto is 13-10 in division games.

Final thought for today: Buck Showalter has pretty much let it be known the last couple of days that he is not wild about going to a six-man rotation.

But after he has gone 2-0 with an ERA 1.38 ERA the last two starts, pitching the Orioles to wins over Oakland and Toronto, Gausman needs to continue to be part of that rotation. That is whether they use five or six pitchers.

It is probably too soon to say Gausman has turned a corner, but it's beginning to look that way. He is flashing the top-of-rotation talent he has. He has come up big for the Orioles these last two starts.

I can't imagine why the Orioles would even consider sending him back to the minors now and I don't imagine we will see that happen.

Gausman can be a difference-maker for this team. Two starts against first-place teams. Two wins. And too good right now to be moved out of the rotation.