O's game blog: Orioles host Mets in search of fifth consecutive win

The Orioles tonight welcome the New York Mets to Camden Yards to start a two-game series. The Orioles will look to extend a four-game win streak overall and snap an eight-game losing streak to the Mets that dates to 2010 when the Mets swept a three-game series in Baltimore.

The Mets got swept three straight by the Pirates over the weekend. Before that, New York won 11 of 13 games to surge into first place. The Mets are 63-55 and lead the National League East by 4 1/2 games. The Orioles are 9-21 all-time against the Mets.

We will see if the O's strong home record and the Mets poor road record comes into play in this two-game series. The Orioles are 36-20 at Camden Yards, while the Mets are 21-34 in road games.

The Orioles beat AL ERA leader Sonny Gray last night to complete their first-ever four-game home sweep of Oakland. The Orioles hit .340 in that series, scoring 34 runs on 55 hits. They scored 26 of those runs with 42 of the hits on Friday and Sunday.

O's starting pitching is trending in the right direction in recent games. The O's staff has posted three straight quality starts with a 3.15 ERA and six in the last nine games with an ERA of 3.98.

On the mound tonight, Kevin Gausman (2-4, 4.48 ERA) pitches against right-hander Jacob deGrom (11-6, 2.03 ERA). After facing the pitcher that led the AL in ERA last night, tonight they battled deGrom, who is second in the NL in ERA.

deGrom will clearly be tough to beat tonight. In 12 starts since June 1 he is 6-2 with a 1.51 ERA. Over his last seven road starts, he is 5-1 with a 1.42 ERA. The Mets have won his last six starts and they are 15-7 in his 2015 starts.

On May 6 at Citi Field, deGrom beat the Orioles, pitching seven innings and he gave up six hits and one run, throwing 105 pitches. The Mets swept that two-game series by 3-2 and 5-1 scores. New York's 3.20 team ERA ranks second in the NL to St. Louis at 2.58.

Gausman has made eight starts this year, going 1-4 with a 4.47 ERA in those games, allowing two earned runs or less four times.

But in his three home starts, he has given up just two runs over 21 innings and the Orioles are 2-1 in those games. Gausman has an ERA of 1.50 in 24 innings this year at Camden Yards.

The start of tonight's game will be delayed by impending inclement weather. The game is expected to start at 7:50 p.m.