O's Game 1 game blog: Looking for a road win in Chicago

After Tuesday's rainout, the Orioles play a doubleheader today and tonight in Chicago against the White Sox. Monday's 5-3 loss leaves the Orioles winless in four games on this road trip.

In those games, the Orioles (10-20) are batting .216 with seven runs on 29 hits with two home runs. They have scored one, two, one and three runs at Minnesota and Chicago.

The Orioles have been outscored 24-7 on this trip and their record has fallen to 10 games under .500. They've lost 8 of 10 and 10 of 13, and are 6-19 since they started the year going 4-1 against the Yankees and Blue Jays.

Orioles right-hander David Hess (1-4, 5.88 ERA) is back in the rotation and makes the start in Game 1. Hess was briefly working out of the Orioles bullpen on Friday and Saturday in Minnesota, although he never got into a game.

We found out last Friday that John Means would pitch this past Monday in Chicago and take Hess' scheduled start. But Alex Cobb went on the injured list once again on Sunday, and Hess was moved right back into the rotation, replacing Cobb.

So, he gets the start this afternoon, his first since Monday, April 22 against the White Sox in Baltimore. Over five innings then, he gave up five hits and four runs. For the year, Hess has thrown 26 innings, allowing 25 hits with seven walks and 18 strikeouts.

In his first start of 2019 he threw 6 1/3 no-hit innings April 1 at Toronto. But in four starts after that he has gone 0-4 with an 8.66 ERA, allowing eight homers over 17 innings.

Now Hess will try to get back to the form he showed late last season and in that start at Rogers Centre. In his final nine starts of last year, Hess pitched to a 3.24 ERA, with 16 walks and 40 strikeouts over 50 innings. In 11 starts in the second half, Hess was 1-5 with a 3.81 ERA.

But he has struggled badly since that start in Toronto and took the loss as the O's fell 12-2 to the White Sox in that April 22 game. The Orioles are 1-4 in his 2019 starts.

Left-hander Carlos Rodón (3-2, 4.94 ERA) gets the start in the opener for the White Sox. In six starts he has pitched 31 innings, allowing 28 hits, including four homers, with 15 walks, 40 strikeouts, a .230 average against and 1.39 WHIP. He is averaging 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings this year, up from 6.7 last season.

The 26-year-old Rodón had a 2.89 ERA heading into his last start on Friday. But versus Detroit, he gave up eight runs and nine hits, including three homers over three innings. In his first five games he recorded three quality starts and allowed two earned runs or fewer four times. The White Sox are 4-2 when he gets the start.

Rodón was the No. 3 overall pick in round one of the 2014 draft out of North Carolina State. He was signed then to a bonus of $6.58 million. He is 29-31 with a 4.06 ERA since he first arrived in the majors in 2015.

Rodón throws his four-seam fastball 51 percent of the time, at an average velocity of 91.9 mph. He uses his slider 37 percent of time, up from 26 percent last year, with a velocity of 83.9, and he uses his changeup for 12 percent of his pitches. Batters are hitting just .132 when they put his slider in play.