Can Tillman match Gausman's success against Longoria?

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - During his start in the series opener against the Rays, Kevin Gausman threw his slider on six of his seven pitches to Evan Longoria spread over two-bats - both ending in strikeouts. He seemed to have a plan in mind.

Let's see how Chris Tillman goes after Longoria, his nemesis on the Rays.

Longoria is 17-for-51 (.333) versus Tillman, with 11 of the hits going for extra bases. He's totaled four doubles and seven home runs.

They meet again tonight as the Orioles close out their road trip and try to avoid a sweep at Tropicana Field.

The last homer came on April 8 at Camden Yards, when Longoria delivered a shot deep down the left field line. He ran the count full on his next at-bat and popped up to short.

Gausman doesn't exactly own Longoria, who's 6-for-21 with a double, home run and six strikeouts against him, but it was no contest Monday night.

"I think that was probably the first time I've ever gotten him out on breaking balls, but I just had a really good feel for it, really from the get-go," Gausman said.

"I think that's one thing I've improved on this year more than any other years is my confidence and just the overall break of my breaking ball. I think I'm learning how to throw a slower, kind of more 12-to-6 one when I feel like it, I guess. (Monday) night I threw some real hard ones that were more slider action, but the same grip.

"That's just something that happened during the game. We saw he took a couple swings at it and could tell that he wasn't really seeing it too well and wasn't laying off of it. I think the strikeout that I had three pitches to strike him out on, all breaking balls. I don't think any of them were even close to being strikes. You see something like that and you just try to expand more. It was that more than anything."

Tillman was watching from the dugout, but he can't necessarily duplicate Gausman's approach.

"There's something to it, but at the same time he's a good hitter," Tillman said after digesting the numbers that were presented to him. "I think he just sees me well. I have to make every single one of my pitches. If I miss, he's going to make a good swing on it. Even some times that we've gotten him out, the ball's been hit hard. I've had some success against him, too.

"It's one of those things where you've got to execute pitches. He's just a guy that sees me well."

Logan Forsythe is 7-for-22 with two doubles against Tillman. Not bad, but not in Longoria's class.

Desmond Jennings is 2-for-22 and Kevin Kiermaier is 2-for-18.

Tillman will try again to enjoy similar success against Longoria.

"It is hard to explain because I've made a lot of good pitches that he's hit well and some bad pitches when he's swung and missed," Tillman said. "It's one of those deals where I think we just see each other so many times that we're kind of playing cat and mouse throughout the game.

"If it's a big situation, don't let him beat you. If it's not that big of a situation, we're up a couple and nobody on base, I'm going to go after him."

Tillman is 6-9 with a 4.19 ERA and 1.193 WHIP in 21 career starts against the Rays and 2-3 with a 2.93 ERA and 0.958 WHIP in nine start at Tropicana Field.

Rays left-hander Matt Moore has walked five batters and struck out 26 in 25 innings this season covering his four starts. He's 4-4 with a 3.83 ERA and 1.471 WHIP in 10 career games (nine starts) versus the Orioles.

The current group is batting .317 (40-for-126) against him. Adam Jones and Matt Wieters are his version of Longoria. Jones is 11-for-24 (.458) with a double and two home runs and Wieters is 8-for-17 (.471) with a double and two home runs

Nolan Reimold is 3-for-8 with two doubles. I'd expect him to be in tonight's lineup. Mark Trumbo is 3-for-12 with a double and home run, Manny Machado is 3-for-16 with a double and triple, and Chris Davis is 3-for-18.