O's game blog: Tyler Wilson makes his first 2016 start as O's play K.C.

KANSAS CITY - Orioles manager Buck Showalter has clearly been impressed with right-hander Tyler Wilson. During spring training, he said Wilson throws every pitch like it's the seventh game of the World Series.

Tonight, Wilson will make his first 2016 start and he'll be facing the Kansas City Royals, a team that played in the last two World Series, winning it last year.

In three relief appearances this year, Wilson is 0-0 with an ERA of 1.13. Over eight innings, he has allowed six hits and one run with two walks to four strikeouts. He has not had to throw more than 44 pitches in any game so far, so we'll see how far stretched out he is and how deep he can get tonight. As Showalter often says, the opponent will have something to say about that.

Wilson made five starts during 2015 and was 1-2 with a 4.32 ERA with a .277 batting average against and three quality starts. He has never pitched against Kansas City.

Right-hander Kris Medlen (1-0, 2.38 ERA) makes his third start of the season tonight for K.C. In the first, he gave up two runs over five innings versus Houston. In the second, he allowed two runs (one earned) over 6 1/3 innings on Sunday at Oakland.

For his career, the 30-year-old Medlen is 41-22 with an ERA of 3.04 and 1.17 WHIP. He has averaged 2.3 walks and 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings. In three games (one start) in his career against Baltimore, he is 1-0 with a 5.25 ERA, allowing seven runs in 12 innings.

After hitting 10 homers in a three-game stretch, the Orioles have now hit just one in the last three games. That a Manny Machado solo shot last night that extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games.

Machado leads the American League in batting average (.397), slugging percentage (.794), hits (25), extra-base hits (13) and total bases (50). He is in a four-way tie for the AL lead with six homers along with Robinson Cano, Josh Donaldson and Mike Moustakas of the Royals. He is second with an OBP of .449.

The Orioles went 3-4 the last three seasons against Kansas City. They are 4-9 at Kauffman Stadium since the 2013 season.

AL wins leaders since 2012:
365 - Orioles
357 - Angels, Yankees
356 - A's
353 - Tigers