Home run puts Gausman in early hole (game called, O's win 3-1)

Entering tonight's game, Kevin Gausman had allowed one home run in his first six starts with the Orioles this season.

Make it two.

Brett Gardner took Gausman deep on the fourth pitch to give the Yankees a quick 1-0 lead at Camden Yards.

Gausman threw four consecutive fastballs clocked at 92, 95, 93 and 94 mph. The last one ended up on the flag court in right field.

Oakland's Coco Crisp hit the other home run off Gausman this season back on June 7 at Camden Yards.

Mark Teixeira singled with two outs and Nick Markakis threw him out at second for the Orioles' 23rd outfield assist this season. Markakis leads the team with nine.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy came off the bag to field the throw and made a sweeping tag. Manager Buck Showalter is certain to mention it after the game, since he often refers to Hardy as the best tagger in baseball.

The Orioles held a brief sendoff ceremony for their three All-Stars tonight, presenting jerseys to Matt Wieters, Nelson Cruz and Adam Jones.

Jones and Markakis are the third pair of Orioles to have 110-plus hits before the All-Star break in the same year, joining Paul Blair and Frank Robinson in 1969 and Jones and Manny Machado in 2013.

Machado has reached base in 15 consecutive games since June 22, posting a .407/.453/.729 line. In his last 34 games since May 31, he's batting .314/.361/.533 to raise his average from .210 to .269.

In 32 games since June 9, Orioles starters have posted a 3.22 ERA in 193 innings to lower the rotation's ERA from 4.61 to 4.11 this season.

The Orioles have hit 113 home runs this year and trail only the Blue Jays for the major league league.

Before tonight's game, Showalter was pressed to reflect on a first half that will end with the Orioles in first place in the American League East. Their lead is 3 1/2 games following the Blue Jays' loss this afternoon.

"There's a lot of unknowns," he said. "Looking forward to finding out. Quite a journey. That's what the rest of the season is. Takes some more turns and ebbs and flows. It's not going to be boring.

"We'll see what the boys have in store for us. It'll be fun."

Update: Nelson Cruz walked leading off the bottom of the fourth and Chris Davis followed with a home run to give the Orioles a 2-1 lead.

Davis has 15 home runs this season. He was hitless in his last 13 at-bats.

The Orioles hadn't scored in 12 innings.

Jonathan Schoop singled with two outs to score J.J. Hardy, who doubled, and force Yankees starter Chase Whitley out of the game.

Update II: The storm has arrrived and time was called at 9:48 p.m. with Steve Pearce on first base and no outs in the bottom of the fifth. It's an official game.

Gausman has allowed one run and four hits in five innings, with no walks, two strikeouts and a home run. He's thrown 78 pitches, 47 for strikes.

Update III: The game is called after a delay of 2 hours, 22 minutes. Orioles win 3-1.

Gausman gets the win and it counts as a complete game. He's allowed two runs in his last two starts over 10 1/3 innings.

The Orioles are 52-42 and lead the Blue Jays by four games in the American League East.