Kevin Gausman on his outing, Chris Davis on the offense

Over the last two games, Orioles starters allowed 11 runs and six homers over nine innings. Meanwhile, Orioles batters produced two runs and six hits in 6-2 and 7-0 losses to Minnesota.

The Orioles will take a 1-2 record to Houston and begin a series with the World Series champion Astros on Monday night at Minute Maid Park.

Several Orioles are not hitting, including first baseman Chris Davis, who went 0-for-12 in the series from the leadoff spot.

"Well, not a lot of production," Davis said of his first three games batting atop the order. "Feel like I'm seeing the ball well. Been a little overaggressive I think. When you are not really swinging the bats collectively as an offense, I think a tendency is to be too aggressive. But it's three games and I understand we have a long way to go. Try to take the positive and, like I said, I feel like I'm seeing the ball well and just kind of getting myself out right now. That is somewhat to be expected with the limited time in spring training.

"I think it's a good spot for me. I think it's a good spot for our entire lineup for me to be up top. At some point, we'll all start clicking and get rolling. Honestly, it's just a spot in the lineup. When our offense gets going, it doesn't matter who is hitting where. We have power from top to bottom and we can get on base. We can drive in runs. We just have to take a deep breath and stay after it."

The Orioles were held to one hit today through eight innings by the Twins right-hander José Berríos, until they got two hits and loaded the bases in the ninth. But they didn't score and hit just .117 (11-for-94) in the series, scoring five runs.

Berríos threw 107 pitches in the game, but needed just 49 in the first five innings. Makes you wonder if he was that good or the Orioles were too aggressive at the plate.

"I think it was a little bit of both," Davis said. "Going out there, trying to be aggressive, and him using that against us. But it's not like we were swinging at pitches out of the zone. I felt like he was really commanding all his pitches. He was making his fastball move a lot and late. Like I said, it's still early, there is no need to panic."

Davis has hit first for three games, but manager Buck Showalter has indicated it may not be a long-term thing.

"I think it's just important for me to be in there every day," Davis said. "Whether it is the one-hole, three-hole, four-hole, wherever it is. I know what my job is. It doesn't really change where I'm hitting in the order. We've talked about it, that he wasn't married to the idea and he's going to change it up a bit. That's understood."

On the mound, right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed a homer to Brian Dozier on the game's first pitch. Minnesota scored four runs in the first and Gausman gave up three homers among the seven hits and six runs he allowed over five innings.

Gausman's fastball velocity, which averaged 95.3 mph last year, was around 92 mph in the first and averaged 92.3 mph for the game. Gausman said he was physically fine.

"I felt good. But for whatever reason it kind of wasn't there today," he said. "I felt like I got better as the game went on, really with everything, but I will say early on I just didn't really feel as locked in as I have been in spring. I don't know if maybe having a couple extra days off had something to do with that, but my overall feel for my pitches wasn't what it has been.

With his team down 7-0 in the ninth and Berríos looking for his first career shutout, O's catcher Chance Sisco dropped a one-out bunt against the shift for his second hit of the day.

Twins second baseman Brian Dozier criticized that play.

"Obviously, we're not a fan of it. He's a young kid. The thing about it is, I could have very easily said something at second base. But they have tremendous veteran leadership over there with Chris Davis, Adam Jones and those guys. I'm sure they'll address that and you move forward. It's all about learning. You learn up here, whether it takes veterans to talk to you about some stuff or whatever. That's it," Dozier said.

"Just trying to mess with the timing of the game," Sisco said. "You go through the lineup, just trying to do what I can do to get on base. They are playing the shift right there, so they kind of gave it to me. If they're going to shift there, I have to take it. And we got bases loaded after that. A couple home runs away from tying the game up."

But after a weekend where the runs were far from plentiful for the Orioles, they dropped the first series of the year. Chris Tillman faces Charlie Morton tomorrow night in Houston.