The Orioles begin an important road trip tonight (plus other notes)

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Orioles have followed up a seven-game winning streak by losing three of their last four games. They have been outscored 25-12 since Sunday, when they let that late lead get away against the Tigers at Camden Yards. They were outscored 19-7 by the Seattle Mariners as they lost two of three in that series.

But at 24-15, the Orioles still lead the American League East by percentage points (.615 to .610) over Boston and they still hold the best record in the AL. The Orioles are 13-7 over their last 20 games.

Tonight the Orioles begin an important road trip in Anaheim at Angel Stadium. They play three games against the Los Angeles Angels, three in Houston and three in Cleveland before heading home to face Boston on May 30. The Orioles are looking to improve on a 7-7 road record.

The Orioles offense came up with just seven runs on 16 hits in the Seattle series, going 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position.

Outfielder Mark Trumbo said it is expected that the offense will have some ups and downs throughout a long season, both for certain individuals and for the lineup as a whole.

"You are going to have both," he said. "It's inevitable. You just need to have the perspective to know that it will pass. It's not the end of the world (when the team or a player slumps). It gets a little easier as you get older. Those first few years when you are grinding it out and maybe you don't have that experience, it can be tougher. That is why it is so important to have good veteran leadership to give that calm to the guys that haven't been through it before."

Meanwhile Orioles pitchers, who were among the stingiest in the game in allowing homers, have now served up eight over the past four games. Even with that, the Orioles' 31 homers allowed for the season is easily the lowest figure by any AL pitching staff. The White Sox, at 36, are second.

O's right-hander Mike Wright (2-3, 5.20 ERA) faces Angels lefty Hector Santiago (3-2, 3.42 ERA) tonight in the series opener. Santiago is coming off eight scoreless innings Sunday against that Seattle team that just handed the Orioles their first home series loss.

Wright is facing the team against whom he made his major league debut last May 17 in Baltimore. In front of 41,733 at Camden Yards that day, Wright pitched 7 1/3 innings scoreless to beat the Angels. He fanned Mike Trout for his first career strikeout. He became the ninth Oriole to throw a scoreless start in his major league debut. He and the Angels have a rematch tonight.

Feeling a draft: The First-Year Player Draft is now less than three weeks away. The Orioles have five of the first 91 picks in the draft that will be held with 40 rounds over three days, starting June 9. They hold picks at Nos. 27, 54, 69, 76 and 91. They will have 12 picks over the first 10 rounds. They have one first-round pick, two in Round 2, a competitive balance round B pick and one pick in each round starting with Round 3.

The Orioles total draft pool for their top 10 rounds of picks is $7,545,800, the 15th most among all teams. The listed slot amount for their first pick at No. 27 is $2,097,200.

This will be the fifth draft as Orioles scouting director for Gary Rajsich. His first selection was pitcher Kevin Gausman, taken fourth overall in 2012. Rajsich said this draft looks deeper than the previous four he oversaw for the Orioles. He also said that he gains more experience in his role every year in making the selections and that helps him on draft day.

"I have grown over the years to know my scouts a little better. To read them, what they like plus what we are trying to do as an organization in terms of adding value and depth to our organization," Rajsich said.

Last year the Orioles drafted 21 position players and 20 pitchers and Rajsich said to expect a similar breakdown this year. For more with Rajsich, check out this story published here several days ago.

Farm report: Triple-A Norfolk (14-28) lost 7-4 at Syracuse last night. Catcher Audry Perez had two hits and is batting .354. Outfielder Dariel Alvarez went 0-for-4. He was batting .500 (12-for-24) over his previous seven games.

Norfolk's roster now features the grandson of a Hall of Famer (Mike Yastrzemski), two brothers of current Orioles (Sharlon Schoop & Corban Joseph), and three players (Michael Almanzar, Steve Tolleson and Francisco Pena) whose fathers enjoyed Major League careers. In addition, Tides manager Ron Johnson's son, Chris, is a third baseman for the Miami Marlins.

Reading beat Double-A Bowie (17-22), 5-1. Right-hander Jason Garcia took the loss for the Baysox. Over 5 1/3 he allowed seven hits and four runs (one earned) to fall to 1-5 with a 6.47 ERA. Jeff Kemp drove in the lone run as Bowie was held to five hits.

Single-A Frederick (18-22) beat Wilmington 3-1 as David Richardson, Tanner Scott and Tanner Chleborad combined on a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts. Richardson gave up the two hits over four innings while Scott got the win and Chleboard a save as the relievers combined for seven strikeouts over five scoreless frames. The Keys allowed a season-low with the two hits given up and Keys pitchers retired 17 of the last 18 batters. Aderlin Rodriguez hit a three-run homer for Frederick.

Single-A Delmarva (23-16) blanked Lakewood 4-0 as left-hander Brian Gonzalez pitched five-hit ball over six scoreless. Gonzalez is 4-1 with a 2.01 ERA. Right-hander Ryan Meisinger fanned seven over three innings to complete the shutout and lower his ERA to 0.49. In four starts this month, Gonzalez is 2-1 with an 0.75 ERA.

Meisinger, an 11th-round draft pick last June out of Radford University, has allowed one run this season over 18 1/3 innings with 30 strikeouts. Since the O's selected him in the draft last June, he is 3-1 with a 1.29 ERA along with 12 walks and 66 strikeouts over 42 innings.

Delmarva has won six of eight games to move a season-high seven games over the .500 mark. The Shorebirds recorded their fourth shutout. Natanael Delgado had two hits and two RBIs and Alex Murphy extended his hitting streak to 11 games.