masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles will attempt tonight to complete a sweep of the Rays before heading home and stressing over the forecast for Friday’s opener.
It’s not promising.
Miguel Gonzalez is 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA in 11 starts against the Rays and 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA in five starts at Tropicana Field. Rays starter Jake Odorizzi is 0-2 with a 5.48 ERA in five games against the Orioles. Odorizzi posted a 2.62 ERA at home last season and a 6.32 ERA on the road, the largest discrepancy in…

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Orioles will attempt tonight to complete a sweep of the Rays before heading home and stressing over the forecast for Friday’s opener.

It’s not promising.

Miguel Gonzalez is 4-3 with a 4.03 ERA in 11 starts against the Rays and 3-1 with a 2.64 ERA in five starts at Tropicana Field. Rays starter Jake Odorizzi is 0-2 with a 5.48 ERA in five games against the Orioles.

Odorizzi posted a 2.62 ERA at home last season and a 6.32 ERA on the road, the largest discrepancy in the majors.

Evan Longoria is 7-for-24 with a home run against Gonzalez, Desmond Jennings is 6-for-23 with four homers and seven RBIs, and Asdrubal Cabrera is 2-for-5 with a double and home run.

pearce-intense-black-sidebar.jpgAdam Jones is 8-for-14 with a double and home run against Odorizzi. Steve Pearce is 2-for-3 with a homer, Delmon Young is 2-for-2 with a homer and Alejandro De Aza is 1-for-2 with a homer.

Current Orioles are batting .405 (15-for-37) against Odorizzi.

Chris Davis will start at first base tonight, and manager Buck Showalter must decide whether to use Pearce or Young as his designated hitter. Pearce has homered twice in two games and averages a homer ever 11.5 at-bats against the Rays in his career. He averages a homer ever 31.1 at-bats against the other teams.

My guess is Pearce stays in the lineup as long as the Orioles are staying at Tropicana Field, where he’s batting .400/.533/.914 (14-for-35) with five home runs and nine RBIs in his last 11 games since June 9, 2013.

Pearce is the 14th player in club history to homer in his first two games of the season. It’s happened in each of the last four seasons, including Nick Markakis in 2012, Davis in 2013 and Nelson Cruz in 2014. Davis homered in four straight games.

Travis Snider has reached base in seven of his eight plate appearances in the series, tying his career high with walks last night. My guess is he stays in right field unless Showalter uses him as the DH.

“He’s in a good place,” Showalter said. “You can tell he’s seeing the ball well, tracking it. You can tell the game has kind of slowed down some. I thought in the last couple games of spring he seemed to be getting more comfortable at the plate. He’s in a good place at the plate.”

The Orioles are in a good place in the standings.

Though the offense quieted after the second inning last night, they’ve scored at least six runs in consecutive games to start the season for the first time since 2008.

The first four batters recorded hits and eventually scored last night, the first time it’s happened since June 20, 2011 in Pittsburgh, when J.J. Hardy singled, Markakis doubled, Jones singled and Derrek Lee singled.

The streak of players collecting hits last night ended with Davis’ check-swing roller to third base. He also struck out, was hit by a pitch and flied to deep right field.

“As Chris will tell you, he had a couple of really good at-bats,” Showalter said. “Last at-bat was probably his best at-bat of the night. I feel confident there’s good things to come.”