O's game blog: Orioles are 0-5 on the road trip

The Orioles have two games to go on what has so far been a winless road trip to Milwaukee and Minnesota. They lost three straight at Milwaukee and have lost back-to-back games at Minnesota by 6-4 and 9-6 scores. Last night, the Orioles led 6-0 in the third inning.

The Twins (45-41) are 1 1/2 games behind the division leading-Indians in the American League Central. The Orioles (40-46) are tied for fourth with the Blue Jays in the AL East, now 9 1/2 games back of the Red Sox. The Orioles are five games back of the second AL wild card spot, which is currently held by the Twins.

The Orioles are 0-5 this season versus the Twins and have been outscored 35-20 in those games. The Twins are batting .319 with an OPS of .832 in the season series against the Orioles.

The Orioles were at the .500 mark at 39-39 on June 29 after a win in Toronto. But they are 1-7 since that point and have lost 20 of 29 and 30 of their past 45 games.

Right-hander Kevin Gausman allowed nine hits and six runs over four innings last night. It was the 23rd time in the last 27 games that an O's starter failed to complete at least six innings. The O's rotation has produced just five quality starts the last 31 games with an ERA of 8.21 in that stretch.

Today left-hander Wade Miley (3-7, 5.20 ERA) makes his 18th start of the first half and tries to turn around a six-start stretch in which he has allowed 29 earned runs over 22 1/3 innings.

Over his first 11 starts, Miley went 2-3 with a 2.82 ERA and .241 average against. But in his past six starts, Miley is 1-4 with an ERA of 11.69 and with a .387 batting average against.

Monday at Milwaukee, he gave up seven hits and seven runs in just 1 2/3 innings, throwing 67 pitches. Miley is 1-4 with a 6.70 ERA in nine road starts.

24-year-old lefty Adalberto Mejía (4-3, 4.32 ERA) makes his 13th start for the Twins. Over his past three games, he is 3-0 with a 1.53 ERA, allowing three runs in 17 2/3 innings. In seven home starts, he is 2-2 with a 5.66 ERA. Left-handed batters are hitting .319 off Mejía and right-handers are batting .247. He has allowed an average of just .173 when pitching with runners scoring position and .053 (1-for-19) when pitching with RISP and two outs.

On this date in 1958, Memorial Stadium hosted its first and only All-Star Game. The Orioles had two players on the American League squad: starting catcher Gus Triandos (1-for-2) and reliever Billy "Digger" O'Dell. O'Dell retired the final nine National League batters on 27 pitches for a save and earned the unofficial MVP Award, as the AL won 4-3. Baltimore native Eddie Rommel, a 13-year major league pitcher and 21-year umpire in the majors, was behind the plate for the game.