O's game blog: It's Gausman against Rodriguez (plus Keys sweep awards)

It's a matchup of former Orioles pitching prospects when the Birds host Boston tonight in the second game of this four-game series. Right-hander Kevin Gausman (0-2, 3.24 ERA) pitches against left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez, who is making his major league season debut for Boston.

The Orioles were held to four hits Monday by knuckleballer Steven Wright and Boston hit three homers in a 7-2 win. Ryan Flaherty had an RBI double and Adam Jones a sac fly for the Orioles.

Boston begins today in first place in the American League East at 31-20 with a two-game lead over the Orioles, who are 28-21. The Red Sox have won eight of their last 11 series. The Orioles have lost six of eight and nine of their last 14 games to drop from 11 games over .500 to seven over.

Gausman pitched to an ERA of 1.42 his first three starts. Over his past four, he is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA. In his most recent start, Thursday at Houston, he allowed five hits and four runs, including three homers, over five innings as he threw 104 pitches. In three home starts in 2016, he is 0-0 with an ERA of 2.84.

Last season, in four games (two starts) versus Boston, Gausman went 1-1 with a 4.30 ERA. In 10 career games (five starts) against Boston he is 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.096 WHIP.

Tonight, he faces the highest-scoring team in the majors. Boston has scored 302 runs (5.92 per game), 20 more than St. Louis at 282 (5.42 per game). The Orioles rank 15th in the majors with 216 runs (4.41 per game).

Rodriguez has been out with a right knee injury and was rehabbing at Triple-A. In five starts in the minors, he went 0-3 with a 3.54 ERA. Over 28 innings for Pawtucket, he gave up 28 hits, including six homers, with four walks and 17 strikeouts. In 21 starts last season for Boston, Rodriguez went 10-6 with a 3.85 ERA and allowed two earned runs or less 15 times.

Boston has three players in the top five of the AL batting leaders right now. Xander Bogaerts, who has a 23-game hitting streak, leads the league at .354. David Ortiz is fourth at .337 and Jackie Bradley Jr. is fifth at .331. That trio went 4-for-12 in Monday's game with two doubles, two homers and four RBIs.

Today Boston placed Bradley on the paternity leave list. Outfielder Rusney Castillo has been recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket.

For the Orioles, Matt Wieters is batting .421 (16-for-38) during a nine-game hitting streak. Over his last 30 games, Jonathan Schoop is batting .310 (35-for-113) with five homers and 19 RBIs. Over his last six games, Mark Trumbo is batting .333 (8-for-24) with two homers and six RBIs. Trumbo is tied for the AL lead with 15 homers and has hit nine over his last 25 games.

This is the second game of a 10-game homestand for the Orioles that will also see them host the New York Yankees and Kansas City Royals. The O's are 17-9 at home and are 6-1-1 in eight home series.

Keys sweep: Single-A Frederick's Wynston Sawyer and Matthew Grimes have been named the Carolina League's Player and Pitcher of the Week for the period ending Sunday. It is the second time this year that Grimes has won this award. It is the first time Frederick has swept both awards since Steve Bumbry and Nick Haughian were honored for the week of June 6-13, 2011.

In eight games, Sawyer, 24, hit .385 (10-for-26) with two home runs, one double, one triple and five RBIs to go with six walks and a stolen base. This month, Sawyer is batting .316 with two homers, 15 RBIs and 15 runs scored. He has walked 24 times and has a .481 on-base percentage and .954 OPS in May. Sawyer is batting .315 with an OPS of .970 for the season.

Grimes went 2-0 with wins over Winston-Salem and Carolina, and the Georgia native did not allow a run in 15 innings. A winner of four consecutive starts, the right-hander has not allowed a run in his last 21 innings and has given up just one run in his last 28 2/3 frames. He closes out May with a 5-1 record and a 1.12 ERA in six games. In 10 starts for the season, the Georgia Tech product is 7-2 with a 1.21 ERA.

Meanwhile, with catcher Francisco Pena joining the Orioles today from Triple-A Norfolk, catcher Austin Wynns is moving from Frederick to Double-A Bowie and catcher Chris O'Brien from Bowie to Norfolk.