O's game blog: Kevin Gausman pitches Twins series finale

It is almost time for the last game of the first series of the year for the Orioles. They beat Minnesota 3-2 on Adam Jones' walk-off homer in the 11th on Thursday. Last night, they were no-hit into the eighth in a 6-2 Twins win.

On the mound today, Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman (11-12, 4.68 ERA in 2017) faces Twins right-hander José Berríos (14-8, 3.89 ERA in 2017).

Gausman made a career-high 34 starts last season, which tied Tampa Bay's Chris Archer for the most in the majors. Gausman's previous best had been 30. He had nine starts in 2017 in which he struck out eight or more batters. In those games, he was 5-2 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.96 WHIP.

He got off to a poor start last season and had an ERA of 7.50 at the end of April and 5.85 through 19 starts at the All-Star break. But over his last 14 starts, he was 6-5 with an ERA of 2.70, which ranked seventh in MLB.

During this interview in spring training, Gausman said he felt it took him much too long to turn around his 2017 season.

"I had a terrible year last year," Gausman said. "I got off to a really slow start and got into a groove way too late. That was the difference between us winning a handful of games.

"I went from starting opening day to, you know, at the break, to be honest, was a little lost. Had to fight my way through the whole year to find out what it was. Whether it was mechanically or mentally. I figured it out, but it took me a little while."

The 23-year-old Berríos had a solid season in 2017 when he averaged 94 mph on a fastball that opponents hit .245 against. Batters hit .273 off his 84 mph changeup and .231 off a curveball that averaged a velocity of 82 mph.

In 15 road starts, Berríos went 5-7 with a 5.17 ERA. Meanwhile, he was terrific at home, at 9-1 with an ERA of 2.41. Lefty batters hit .260 with an OPS of .783 against him and right-handed batters hit .222/.275.

He made two starts last season versus Baltimore, going 2-0 with a 4.38 ERA over 12 1/3 innings. In three career games, he is 2-0 with a 4.67 ERA versus the Orioles.

Since the beginning of the 2012 season, Orioles hitters lead the majors with 1,341 home runs and also lead the majors in fewest number of errors committed with 499. Several current hitters rank among the major league leaders in homers since 2012. Chris Davis ranks second with 223, Adam Jones is tied for seventh with 177 and Mark Trumbo ranks 11th with 172. Also since 2012, the Orioles rank first among American League clubs with 287 wins at home.

Minnesota won the season series versus the Orioles 5-2 last year. The Twins are 7-3 in their last 10 games against Baltimore and 15-8 in the last 23 meetings since September of 2014.