O's game blog: Gausman faces Tanaka in series finale (O's win 10-4)

The Orioles face Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (5-4, 5.86 ERA) tonight in the third and final game of this series between AL East rivals. Tonight's game will start at 7:15 p.m. after a very short rain delay.

Tanaka has had a wild last three starts. Before he pitched on Friday against Oakland and threw very well, he had back-to-back terrible starts versus Houston and Tampa Bay. In those two games he gave up 16 hits and 14 runs and allowed a staggering seven home runs in just 4 2/3 combined innings. His ERA in the two starts jumped from 4.36 to 6.56.

So in his bounce-back outing on Friday, Tanaka pitched 7 1/3 scoreless on five hits with no walks and a career-high 13 strikeouts. He had a career-high 25 swings and misses on 111 pitches against the A's. Tanaka got swings and misses on 10 of his 28 split-finger fastballs and on 15 of 38 sliders.

But his ERA is still much higher than usual and he is 2-2 with a 6.41 ERA in five road starts. He has allowed 13 homers in 55 1/3 innings but seven came in those two starts that preceeded his last one.

In the first inning this year he has an ERA of 11.70 and has given up five homers in 10 innings and a batting average of .409. In one start last year against the Orioles he pitched eight scoreless. In six career starts, Tanaka is 1-1 with a 2.74 ERA, a 1.008 WHIP and 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings against Baltimore.

The Orioles turn to right-hander Kevin Gausman (2-4, 6.17 ERA) in the series finale. They feel Gausman may be turning a corner with three quality starts in his last four games.

His ERA is 4.30 in those four games, but that includes the start in Kansas City where he allowed five runs in 3 1/3. In the other three games his ERA is 2.75. Lefty batters are hitting .250 against Gausman, right-handers are batting .370 and he allows a batting average against of .276 when pitching with runners in scoring position.

Gausman is 6-3 with a 2.59 ERA in 19 career appearances against New York. This year he has allowed nine earned runs in 10 2/3 with two no-decisions versus the Yankees. In his career at Oriole Park against New York, he has gone 3-1 with a 2.11 ERA.

The Orioles are 26-24 through 50 games, including records of 16-8 at home and 18-11 versus the AL East. The Orioles went 15-8 in April. They end May tonight with a record of 11-16 for the month to far.

New York (30-19) is 9-10 since a 21-9 start through May 8. The Yankees are 13-11 on the road and 13-9 within the division. They went 15-8 in April and are 15-11 in May.

O's win, take series: The Orioles hammered the Yankees tonight 10-4 at Camden Yards, to take two of three in this series and move to within 3 ½ games of first in the AL East.

Coming into this game, the Orioles had scored 15 runs total with a team average of .199 their past seven games. But tonight, Adam Jones doubled, homered and drove in five runs as the Orioles had 14 hits and scored 10 or more runs for the first time since posting 13 on May 16 at Detroit. Chris Davis homered and drove in three and Mark Trumbo added two RBIs. The Orioles went 7-for-13 with runners in scoring position.

The Orioles have now won 11 straight home series against the Yankees, dating to September of 2013. They are 24-9 at home versus New York since then. The Orioles host Boston to start a four-game series on Thursday night.