Notes on Schoop's strong bat, Gausman's outing and Akin's gem

TORONTO - Second baseman Jonathan Schoop continued his breakout season last night at Rogers Centre. The Orioles scored three runs in the first two innings in beating Toronto 3-1, with Schoop right in the middle of it. He contributed a single to start a first-inning two-run rally and crushed a double with an exit velocity of 113 mph and scored a run in the second.

Schoop is batting .298 with 15 homers, 48 RBIs and an OPS of .902 for the season. In June he is batting .344/.410/.688 with eight homers, 24 RBIs and an OPS of 1.098. Over his last seven games he has had two hits five times batting .407 with three doubles, two homers and seven RBIs.

"I'm just swinging at strikes," Schoop said of his approach at bat this season. "Every year I want to be better. I know I have to work to get better. I'm swinging at better pitches. Swing at strikes and the rest will come. Better things will happen."

Schoop is on a pace to hit 32 homers and drive in 102 runs. Throughout his career he has chased over 40 percent of pitches out of the strike zone. This year, he has cut that down to 35 percent. He is also swinging and missing less than at any point in his career. He is hitting the ball hard and getting results.

"I think now I'm knowing what the pitcher is trying to do with me. I'm seeing what they are doing to the guys in front of me. And I'm trying to achieve a goal I set for the day. See how I have to approach that pitcher and make adjustments during the game if I have to make them," he said.

Gausman was good: For a team desperate for some consistent starting pitching the Orioles will gladly take an outing where their starter doesn't allow a run. While only pitching 5 1/3 innings last night, Kevin Gausman did produce his first scoreless start of 2017.

His last two outings, allowing three runs against Cleveland and last night at Rogers Centre, represent steps forward for a pitcher who began last night with an ERA of 6.47. He can't erase all those poor starts in a few weeks, but at least for him the needle is finally moving in the right direction.

Gausman recently made some adjustments, including moving to the first base side of the pitching rubber to better locate his pitches to right-handed batters. Have those adjustments now taken hold or is he just finally pitching better overall?

"I think it's a little bit of both," he said. "Obviously moving over a little on the rubber has made it easier for me to hit down and away to a right-handed hitter. And so that is huge. And also just pitching more. Not being just primarily a fastball pitcher. Early in the season I got way too fastball-happy in some counts where I should probably be pitching in those counts. That is really something I'm trying to do better is mixing up my pitches. Moving up and down and in and out and try to keep these guys off balance."

Right-handed batters began last night with a season batting average of .371 versus Gausman and that was the highest for any pitcher in the majors. Toronto right-handed batters went 3-for-15 (.200) last night.

In four starts for the season against Toronto, Gausman is 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA. He also improved on a road ERA that was 9.00 for Gausman to start last night.

"He kind of built on his last outing," manager Buck Showalter said of the right-hander. "And command of the fastball, I know you get tired of hearing it, but it's what separated everybody. He was really working the bottom of the zone and he pitched a lot with his fastball early and went to some of his other pitches the second and third time out of the order.

"We pitched really well out of the bullpen," Showalter added. "It's a little reminder, when Darren (O'Day's) healthy and pitching well, we've got a left-hander [Zach Britton] around the corner hopefully and if we can get into the fifth and sixth and seventh inning with some of these starters, we can start having fun again."

Jones' walk in the first: In a game where few runs were scored Tuesday night, Showalter cited a plate appearance by Adam Jones in the first inning as a key to the win.

After Schoop's two-out single off Joe Biagini, Jones drew an eight-pitch walk to put two on for Mark Trumbo. Trumbo then barely missed a three-run homer and settled for a two-run double off the center-field wall and an early 2-0 lead.

"Two-out walks, as I've seen on defense, they relax the defense," Jones said. "We've got some very potent hitters. And the big guy (Trumbo) was able to get a ball up and did not miss it. I know he wanted that home run and he missed it by about a foot, but I'm sure he'll take that double and two RBIs."

Don't look now but the Oriole have a three-game road win streak for the first time since April 12-14 when they beat Boston twice and Toronto once. The Orioles have not won four in a row on the road all year.

Can they build some road momentum now?

"I really believe we can," Jones said. "In previous years, we've played really well on the road, and this year is this year. We ran into a bit of a blip on the road, but things like that happen. It's a long season, so because we started one way doesn't mean we're going to finish one way.

"The guys in here, they understand that you grind it out and it's super cliché but that's what you have to do in this business. The guys in here are on board, so just going to have to continue to grind it out."

The Orioles had lost 13 of 14 road games before winning at Tampa Bay on Saturday. Now if they get a win either of the next two nights, they'll have back-to-back road series wins versus the Rays and Jays.

Near no-no on the farm: Single-A Frederick left-hander Keegan Akin lost a no-hitter with two outs in the eighth inning last night as Frederick beat Wilmington, 5-1 at Nymeo Field.

After seven hitless innings, Akin fanned two batters to start the eighth. Then Cody Jones broke up the no-hitter with a bloop single into center field. It was the longest nine-inning no-hit bid by a Keys pitcher since right-hander Parker Bridwell carried a hitless game through 8 1/3 innings against Potomac on May 13, 2014. The eight innings marked the longest outing by a Keys pitcher this year.

The O's second round pick in 2016 out of Western Michigan, Akin has turned around his season. He had an ERA of 5.95 in late May. But for the year, he is now 6-5 with a 3.76 ERA with 76 strikeouts over 69 1/3 innings.

Over his past three starts he has given up just one run over 19 innings. In five starts this month, Akin is 3-1 with an 0.90 ERA and .130 batting average against.