O's game blog: Miguel Gonzalez on mound as Twins-O's series begins

After taking three of four from Tampa Bay, this long Orioles' homestand continues here tonight as the Orioles begin a four-game series against the Minnesota Twins. The Orioles lost two of three May 2-4 at Target Field and were outscored 11-6. Twins pitchers posted an ERA of 2.00 in that series. Minnesota is approaching a milestone home run in the history of its franchise. The Twins (since 1961)/Senators (since 1901) franchise has hit 9,999 home runs, needing one to reach 10,000 and become the 16th franchise to ever reach that mark. Harmon Killebrew (1954-1974) tallied the most with 559. The Twins have contributed 7,213 of those homers while the Senators hit 2,786. Joe Mauer, who is batting third as the DH tonight, is a career .344 (67-for-195) hitter against the Orioles, with 15 doubles, five homers, 31 RBIs and a .405 on-base percentage in 52 games. On the mound tonight, Miguel Gonzalez (6-7, 3.75 ERA) makes his 21st start of 2014. He has allowed two earned runs or less in six of his last seven starts, going 2-2 with a 2.49 ERA and six quality starts. In five starts since the All-Star break, Gonzalez is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA. A 24-year-old rookie right-hander, Trevor May (0-3, 8.79 ERA) gets the start for Minnesota. He was 8-6 with a 2.84 ERA in 18 starts for Triple-A Rochester and made his major league debut Aug. 9 at Oakland. In four games over 14 1/3 innings, May has allowed 24 hits with 13 walks and seven strikeouts. He has given up a batting average against of .387. Acquired by Minnesota in a trade with Philadelphia on Dec. 12, 2012, he was ranked as the Twins' No. 8 prospect entering this season by Baseball America and was rated as having the best changeup on the Twins' farm. The Orioles bullpen posted 14 1/3 scoreless innings in the series against Tampa Bay. According to Elias, it was the most scoreless innings in a series by the O's bullpen since June 22-24, 1979, when the Birds bullpen tossed 15 1/3 innings over a four-game set against Detroit. The Orioles begin play tonight leading the American League East by seven games. They have won three of four, seven of 11, and 21 of their last 32 games. Since May 31 when they had a record of 26-27, they are 50-29. A neat note today from the O's minors: Short-season Single-A Aberdeen added catcher Nick Merullo and infielder Derek Peterson from the Gulf Coast League. Merullo is the son of IronBirds' manager Matt Merullo and Peterson is the son of the Orioles' director of pitching development Rick Peterson. Also Triple-A Norfolk pitcher Mike Wright pitched another near no-hitter today. Durham's Mikie Mahtook, the guy who ended Wright's no-hitter after 8 2/3 innings last outing, singled with one out in the seventh today. In the minor leagues, doubleheaders games are seven innings so Wright's no-hit bid was again in the final inning when it ended. That game was scoreless in the seventh inning and Wright left after allowing two hits over 6 2/3 scoreless innings as his late-season roll of good pitching continued today.