Monday night Orioles game thread: at Reds

Interleague baseball is kind of fun, right? The novelty of it has certainly worn off in recent years. Now that both leagues have 15 teams each, that means there is always a battle between a junior and senior circuit club as opposed to when they only met in the All-Star Game and later on during a specific stretch of the season. But it's still neat to see pitchers hit.

Kevin Gausman and his left-handed swing will be on display tonight. So far in his career, the flamethrower is 0-for-6 with a walk and one sacrifice at the plate. More importantly, though, Gausman is still looking for his first truly impressive start of the season. He is 1-0 with a 3.94 ERA through three games to this point, but his nine walks and 11 strikeouts in 16 innings are pretty mediocre for a guy with his ability.

On the opposing hill will be 40-year-old Bronson Arroyo along with his hair, wacky leg kick and 84 mph fastball. Arroyo has been a professional baseball player since 1995 and in the bigs since 2000. But he could be on the way out if he has too many more atrocious starts. In his two starts thus far, he has lasted 10 total innings, but allowed 11 runs on 13 hits, three walks and five strikeouts. Four of those hits have been home runs.

Things are bound to be a little odd with the lineups this week. Without the DH option, Mark Trumbo is forced out to right field and Seth Smith gets the coveted left field spot, which should change hands quite a few times over the next three days. But it wouldn't a surprise to see all of Craig Gentry, Trey Mancini and Hyun Soo Kim get playing time as pinch hitters and runners.