O's game blog: Orioles host St. Louis as homestand begins

The Orioles have returned home and now we find out if some wins will return for them as well. They are 21-10 at home and 11-23 on the road.

During a 1-7 road trip, the Orioles were outscored 71-29. They averaged 3.6 runs per game but had a team ERA of 9.14 and a starters ERA of 12.53 on the trip.

According to STATS, LLC., the last time the Orioles had a road trip of at least eight games with one or less win was July 1-10, 2011, when Baltimore went 1-9 on a 10-game road trip to Atlanta (1-2), Texas (0-3) and Boston (0-4).

But the Orioles have the second-best home record in the American League and the fourth-best in baseball at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

.742 - Arizona Diamondbacks (26-9)
.714 - Los Angeles Dodgers (25-10)
.688 - New York Yankees (22-10)
.677 - Baltimore Orioles (21-10)

Tonight the Orioles host the St. Louis Cardinals to start a three-game series and seven-game homestand. Cleveland will follow St. Louis to Oriole Park.

While the Orioles pitching has been poor and it has been well documented, the O's hitters have had plenty of their own issues.

The Orioles have scored three runs or less in nine of their last 13 games. In the series at Chicago the Orioles scored seven, one, 10 and two runs over the four games.

O's ranks in the American League and AL team averages:
Runs per game - 4.43 (11th), AL avg. is 4.68
OBP - .309 (13), AL avg. is .325
Slugging - .421 (8), AL avg. is .425
OPS - .731 (10), AL avg. is .749

Even in hitting homers the Orioles are not at the top of the league as they have been in recent years. They have hit 89 homers to rank sixth in the AL and the average for a team right now is 85 homers.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Kevin Gausman (3-5, 6.49 ERA) faces right-hander Carlos Martínez (5-5, 2.95 ERA).

Gausman has a 2-1 record and 4.69 ERA at home in seven starts and a 1-4 record and ERA of 9.00 in seven road starts.

He has struggled early in his starts, allowing an ERA of 7.71 in the first inning and 7.62 in the second. Gausman will be making his fourth interleague start of the season and the 12th of his career (13th appearance). In his first 13 appearances, he has gone 3-6 with a 5.32 ERA, 21 walks and 61 strikeouts over 66 innings.

Martínez is coming off a complete-game four-hit shutout against Philadelphia where he walked one, fanned 11 and threw 107 pitches. In five road starts he is 1-4 with a 5.10 ERA. Lefty batters hit just .203 against him and right-handed batters .187.

St. Louis is 30-35 and in third place in the NL Central. Since going 21-15 to start the year through May 14, the Cardinals are 9-20.