O's game blog: O's play Milwaukee series finale plus a take on Samardzija

After exchanging 7-6 wins in 10 innings the past two days where the winning team trailed with two outs in the ninth, the Orioles and Brewers play the series finale tonight in Milwaukee. Can this game match the excitement of the first two? Bud Norris (3-4, 3.83 ERA) pitches for the Orioles against Yovani Gallardo (2-3, 3.51 ERA). Gallardo won last night's game with a pinch-hit double in the 10th inning. Gallardo went 1-0 with a 2.27 ERA in five April starts, but has gone 0-3 with a 6.33 ERA in four starts this month. Nelson Cruz hit another homer last night, his 17th. Cruz has an eight-game hitting streak and is batting .448 (13-for-29) with five doubles, five homers and nine RBIs. Meanwhile, a report out of Chicago today called the Orioles the "leading team of interest" in the early stages of the Jeff Samardzija sweepstakes. The Cubs are expected to trade the 29-year-old right-hander, who is 1-4 with a 1.68 ERA this year. No doubt Samardzija is having a great year. He's pitched seven innings or more in eight of his 11 starts. An MLBTraderumors.com report speculated the Cubs would seek two of the O's top four pitching prospects. That list includes Dylan Bundy, Kevin Gausman, Eduardo Rodriguez and Hunter Harvey. Samardzija is not nearly worth that price, in my opinion. Two of the O's top four pitching prospects? No way. He is not an ace, although he is pitching like one right now. Before this season, his career ERA was 4.19 and his career WHIP was 1.32. Right now, with an ERA of 4.35 this season, Miguel Gonzalez has a career ERA of 3.70 and WHIP of 1.25. Last season, Samardzija had an ERA of 4.34 and the National League average was 3.74. Are the Orioles desperate to make a move to improve their rotation? The answer there is probably yes. Are they desperate enough to trade two top young pitching prospects for this pitcher? I certainly hope not. What is your take? Minors matters: I mentioned Double-A Bowie left-hander Rodriguez in this blog and he pitched well for the Baysox tonight as Bowie beat Akron 3-1 in Game 1 of a doubleheader. Rodriguez gave up three hits and one run over 5 2/3 innings. Over two starts since coming off the disabled list, the Orioles' No. 3 prospect according to Baseball America has pitched 10 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and two runs. He has lowered his ERA from 6.75 to 4.73. Single-A Delmarva's seven-game winning streak ended this afternoon with a 12-2 loss to Hagerstown. The Shorebirds, now 30-22, were trying to complete a four-game sweep. Delmarva outfielder Josh Hart went on the disabled list today. He suffered a knee injury playing the outfield on Monday and is being evaluated. The O's took the 19-year-old Hart with the 37th overall pick in last June's draft. In 41 Shorebirds games, he is batting .266 with no homers and 15 RBIs. Davis-Cruz homer meter: Chris Davis hit 19 homers in 54 games by the end of May 2013. Cruz's solo homer in the second inning tonight gives him 18 in 50 games with four games left in the month, counting tonight. Cruz has hit four homers over his last six games, six in his last nine, eight in the past 14 and 16 over his past 35. He is wearing out right-center field.