Jones stays hot (O's lead 4-1)

Kevin Gausman brought some serious heat to Oakland's batters in the first inning, and Adam Jones stayed hot at the plate with a solo home run in the bottom half. Gausman retired the Athletics in order on 18 pitches, getting a called third strike on Josh Donaldson on his third 98 mph fastball of the at-bat. He also reached 98 mph while retiring leadoff hitter Coco Crisp on a fly ball to left field. Gausman's fastball also hit 97 mph several times. (Donaldson, by the way, was booed upon being introduced to the crowd following his altercation with Manny Machado last night. I still believe it was a clean tag. Probably time to move on from it.) Jones hit his ninth home run to give the Orioles a 1-0 lead, redirecting Sonny Gray's 94 mph fastball over the fence in right-center field. I'm fairly confident that Jones' last three home runs have traveled to right or right-center field. In his last six games, Jones is 11-for-24 with three home runs and eight RBIs. Gray threw a fastball, slider, fastball, curveball and fastball to Jones, who must have detected a pattern. Gausman escaped a jam in the second after walking Brandon Moss and allowing a single to Yoenis Cespedes with no outs. Jed Lowrie grounded into a 4-6-3 double play and Stephen Vogt broke his bat on a weak grounder to second. Gausman has thrown 36 pitches, 22 for strikes. Down on the farm, Tommy Hunter threw eight of 11 pitches for strikes in the second inning at Single-A Delmarva. He struck out the first two batters and hit one. Shorebirds catcher Austin Wynns threw out Carlos Tocci attempting to steal to end Hunter's night. Hunter will head back to Baltimore later tonight and be activated before Sunday's game against the A's. Update: Crisp homered off Gausman with two outs in the third inning to tie the game 1-1. Gausman has allowed one run and two hits in four innings, with one walk and two strikeouts. He's thrown 60 pitches, 39 for strikes. Gausman lasted only four innings in his other start on May 14 against the Tigers, when he allowed five runs and threw 87 pitches. Update II: The Orioles scored three runs in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead. Caleb Joseph had an RBI double to break the tie, and Nick Markakis and Jones had RBI singles. Jones is now 12-for-16 with three homers and nine RBIs in his last six games.