Blue Jays @ Orioles lineups and game notes - June 12

Weather has been an issue each of the last two days and it looks to be three in a row with the way the skies look in Baltimore right now. If the game gets in, the Orioles will look to start a big series with AL East-leading Toronto. The Blue Jays start the day off 4.5 games ahead of Baltimore and New York.

Weather

The Weather Channel is saying there will be rain in the area all day. The forecast for 7 p.m. looks bleak: scattered thunderstorms and a 60 percent chance of precipitation with temperature of 76 degrees. However, the chance of rain does continually drop until midnight, where it picks up again to 50 percent. Good luck to those making the trek to the ballpark, you may be in for a long night of delays.

All of the beat reporters that the tarp is on the field at the time this is posted. As you could guess, that's not a good sign for the game starting on time. Fingers crossed.

Pitchers

RHP Kevin Gausman, Baltimore

2014 stats: 2 G, 1-1, 4.91 ERA, 11.0 IP, 1 HR, 3 BB, 8 SO, .244 BAA, 1.18 WHIP
Last start (vs. Oakland): 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 6 SO, W

The rec-speced righty returns to the hill after his great outing against Oakland. He started the run of great starting pitching for the Orioles (aside from Ubaldo's debacle) and hopes to continue it. He will have to do so against another good lineup; one he has seen a handful of times before.

Gausman's first ever taste of big league hitting came against these Blue Jays in May of 2013. All together, he has made four apperances and one start versus the Canuks. It is a total of 7.1 innings, a 6.14 ERA, 3 BB, 9 SO, 1 HR, and a batting average against of .310. He will need those numbers to go down tonight if the Orioles are to make it back-to-back wins

LHP Mark Buehrle, Toronto

2014 stats: 13 G, 10-2, 2.04 ERA, 88.1 IP, 3 HR, 25 BB, 52 SO, .251 BAA, 1.21 WHIP
Last start (vs. St. Louis): 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 6 SO, L

Pitch Type	Usage	Velocity
Fastball	47.9%	83.4
Cutter	12.8%	79.7
Curveball	16.4%	71.5
Changeup	22.8%	77.7

Buehrle is the reason that the show "Pros vs. Joes" ever existed. He maxes out at about 85 mph and makes it seem like anybody could get a hit off of him. His secret is that he listen to his high school baseball coach and only really misses low. They aren't gonna hurt ya down there and his HR/9 number is evident of that. He is sitting at a career low 0.31 in that category and leaving 82.1% of men on base.

He hasn't been super lucky in terms of his batting average agasint on balls in play, sitting at .285 is only 5 points below his career number. However, his FIP (3.26) and xFIP (4.17) do reveal that he isn't deserving of that glorious 2.04 ERA. And only 3.3% of his flyballs go for home runs. There is no way that lasts and the home run happy Orioles would love to be the team to change it.

The southpaw has pitched in 22 games against the O's in his career, 20 of which were starts. He is 8-8 with a 3.31 ERA over 136 innings. It's good but not great. However, Baltimore hitters always seem to have an issue against lefties, except for Adma Jones for some reason.

Lineups

Blue Jays (w/ career stats against Gausman)

SS Jose Reyes (S)	1-for-2, .500 BA
LF Melky Cabrera (S)	1-for-3, .333 BA
RF Jose Bautista (R)	0-for-2, .000 BA, 1 BB, 1 SO
1B Edwin Encarnacion (R)	0-for-4, .000 BA, 2 SO
DH Adam Lind (L)	2-for-3, .667 BA, 1 2B, 1 SO
2B Brett Lawrie (R)	1-for-4, .250 BA, 2 SO
C Dioner Navarro (S)	none
3B Juan Francisco (L)	none
CF Anthony Gose (L)	none

It's all REALLY small sample sizes, if samples at all, as Gausman is still a rookie. So, take it all for what you want. These boys can hit.

Orioles (w/ career stats against Buehrle)

RF Nick Markakis (L)	18-for-42, .429 BA, 4 2B, 2 HR, 4 BB, 3 SO
DH Delmon Young (R)	17-for-45, .378 BA, 2 2B, 3 HR, 2 BB, 4 SO
CF Adam Jones (R)	10-for-26, .385 BA, 2 2B, 1 HR, 2 BB, 3 SO
1B Chris Davis (L)	6-for-16, .375 BA, 2 HR, 1 BB, 3 SO
LF Nelson Cruz (R)	0-for-14, .000 BA, 1 BB 2 SO
SS J.J. Hardy (R)	3-for-25, .120 BA, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 SO
3B Manny Machado (R)	1-for-6, .167 BA, 2 SO
2B Jonathan Schoop (R)	0-for-4, .000 BA, 1 SO
C Caleb Joseph (R)	none

Now, some of these guys have got some serious facetime with Toronto's lefty. And, a quick reminder that Jones is still smacking around southpaws to the tune of a .422 batting average with six home runs and only five strikeouts. More of the same would be appreciated tonight.

Though Cruz may have gotten a night off in favor of Steve Pearce. Pearce is 2-for-5 in his career against Buehrle. Wheras Nelly has, well, struggled to put it kindly.

Joseph is back behind the plate. Nick Hundley has been 0-for-4 in his chances with the Toronto's starter.

Game Notes

• The Orioles have signed 8th round slection Stephen Wilkerson and 10th round selection Jay Gonzalez. Both will report to Aberdeen.
• Miguel Gonzalez said he feels good after his rehab start last night.
• Wei-Yin Chen's start last night was the first time an Oriole pitcher had t least 7 SO and no BB against the Red Sox since Dave Borkowski on July 28 of 2004.