O's game blog: O's are 5-1 on homestand as series with Minnesota begins

Tonight's game will not start on time. The tarp is on the field and the Orioles and Twins are in a rain delay for now.

The Orioles have gone 5-1 on this homestand against the Oakland Athletics (4-0) and the New York Mets (1-1). Now they welcome the Minnesota Twins to town to, weather permitting, start a four-game series.

The Orioles (62-57) have won 16 of their last 24 games. Since they were a season-low six games under the .500 mark June 3 at 23-29, they have gone 39-28 for a .582 winning percentage.

The Orioles are five games back of first-place New York in the American League East. They are a 1/2 game back of the Angels for the second AL wild card. Texas is 1 1/2 back of Los Angeles and Minnesota is tied with Tampa Bay at four games back.

When the Twins swept a three-game series from the Orioles on July 6-8, they ended that series with a record of 46-39 and the Orioles were 43-42. Since then the Orioles are 19-15 while the Twins are 13-22.

The Twins' three-game sweep was their first at home over the Orioles since April 2-4, 2007. Minnesota won by scores of 4-2 in 10 innings, 8-3 and 5-3.

Last night, Jonathon Schoop and OF Adam Jones each hit game-tying home runs in the sixth and seventh innings against the Mets. Then Henry Urrutia hit a walk-off homer in the ninth inning of the 5-4 win. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Orioles hadn't hit three game-tying or go-ahead homers in the sixth inning or later in one game since 1999.

Also according to Elias, Urrutia is the first Cuban-born player whose first Major League home run was a walk-off since 1968, when Cubs rookie Jose Arcia went deep at Wrigley Field for the only homer of his three-year career.

The Orioles are tied with Minnesota for the MLB lead with 35 outfield assists. Jones leads the team and is tied for fifth in the majors with 11 outfield assists. According to FanGraphs, Orioles outfielders rank fifth in the majors with 19 defensive runs saved.

Miguel Gonzalez (9-8, 4.42 ERA) makes his 23rd start of the season tonight facing Twins right-hander Tyler Duffey (1-1, 6.75 ERA). Over his last four starts, Gonzalez has gone 0-4 with an ERA of 6.64. He has pitched 5 1/3 or less in eight of his past 11 starts.

Gonzalez, ERA by month:
April: 3.42
May: 3.52
June: 5.75
July: 5.00
August: 5.29

The 24-year-old Duffey was drafted by the Twins out of Rice in fifth round of 2012. He has pitched this year at both Double-A, Triple-A and the majors. His combined minor league numbers are 7-8 with a 2.54 ERA.

He made his major league debut Aug. 5 and gave up six runs in two innings against Toronto. But in his second and most recent start, he pitched six scoreless innings allowing just one hit last Saturday against Cleveland. He is 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in the two starts.