Tonight's game and breaking down Brach

As the Yankees arrive at Camden Yards today to begin a three-game series, the Orioles will attempt to lower their 4.75 ERA and raise the number of quality starts.

Chris TIllman and Ubaldo Jimenez have registered the only quality starts. Wei-Yin Chen lasted 4 1/3 innings, Miguel Gonzalez 5 2/3 innings, Bud Norris three innings and Tillman 2 2/3 innings.

The Yankees are listing the pitching matchups as follows:

Tonight: Chen vs. Michael Pineda
Tuesday: Gonzalez vs. CC Sabathia
Wednesday: Norris vs. Nathan Eovaldi

Pineda figures to get a plaque in Monument Park if he can pitch into the seventh inning tonight. The Yankees seem to have loosened their standards. I thought that only happened at last call.

Kevin Gausman relieved Tillman yesterday, let an inherited runner score and permitted one of his own in 1 1/3 innings. He also walked two batters.

Gausman posted a 7.04 ERA in 7 2/3 spring training innings. He's posted a 7.36 ERA in 3 2/3 innings over two regular season appearances, with four walks and four strikeouts.

Brad Brach needed a good outing yesterday and he got it, retiring the first five batters he faced before walking Dalton Pompey with two outs. Manager Buck Showalter brought in Darren O'Day to face Jose Bautista, and the resulting two-run homer completed the day's scoring.

Brach will lament the walk, of course, but consider that he allowed four runs and nine hits in three innings over three appearances before yesterday. He also let three inherited runners score after replacing Norris.

"I feel like I'm throwing good, just a couple pitches I wish I could have back," he said before yesterday's game. "It's kind of the way it is sometimes. Sometimes guys will hit balls hard right at somebody. Right now, it's just not finding the glove. I've just got to keep doing what I have been and know the results will be there. Hopefully, sometime soon coming up."

Brach has more security this season after going 7-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 46 games in 2014. He's also out of minor league options. But he isn't taking his spot for granted.

"It's one of those things where I think I put a little bit too much pressure on myself to get off to a good start," he said. "It's kind of frustrating when you don't have the results like I had hoped I was going to have right now, but I've just got to hope that, come the end of April, everybody will forget about these first three outings and it'll be just like it was last year. Just got to keep grinding every day like I'd normally do and just hope that the results will be there in the next three outings.

"I'm making good pitches. The last outing I had two pitches I wish I could have back, but it's just one of those things where when you're going good, you can make bad pitches and maybe they'll miss it it or pop it up or hit it at somebody, but when the results aren't like you want them to be, it seems like every bad pitch is hit kind of hard."

Brach didn't get much feedback from pitching coach Dave Wallace and bullpen coach Dom Chiti, just a welcomed indication that they weren't concerned.

"Actually, Dom and Dave kind of just looked at me and laughed the last few times," Brach said. "They know that I have the stuff and the results will be there coming up here soon."

Brach had no trouble deciding whether he was most bothered by the runs he allowed or the ones that scored after he replaced Norris.

"The inherited runners for sure," he said. "When you go out there and that game was still within reach, especially with the offense we have, if I could have got out of there with one, maybe two of those runs scoring or none, maybe we come back and win that game.

"It's one of those things for myself personally, I hate giving up the runs. To give up all of Bud's and then give up a few more, I pretty much put the game out of reach, so that was the most frustrating."

As for tonight's game, Chen is 2-4 with a 5.44 ERA in nine starts against the Yankees. Pineda is 1-0 with a 1.78 ERA in four starts against the Orioles, with three walks and 25 strikeouts in 25 1/3 innings.

Jacoby Ellsbury is 6-for-13 (.462) against Chen, and Brett Gardner is 5-for-14 (.357) with two doubles and a home run.

The current Orioles are 5-for-39 with 15 strikeouts against Pineda. Adam Jones is 3-for-11 (.273) with a double.

David Lough could rejoin the Orioles after playing six innings yesterday at Single-A Frederick and going 0-for-2 with a sacrifice fly in three plate appearances.

And finally, in case you missed it, the Dodgers outrighted reliever Ryan Webb. One Oriole was talking about the trade yesterday morning, expressing confusion over it and predicting a strange twist. I guess this was it.

The Dodgers were willing to pick up Webb's $2.75 million salary in exchange for the Orioles' competitive balance pick slotted at No. 74.