Small sample sizes shouldn’t produce a chorus of long-term outlooks. The word “small” is the giveaway Baseball requires patience over the course of a 162-game season.

OK, we got that out of the way.

Left-hander Gregory Soto has made three appearances with the Orioles since the deadline trade with the Phillies. He’s allowed eight runs and nine hits and walked three batters in 1 1/3 innings. And his second outing was scoreless.

It wasn’t clean. Soto allowed two hits Sunday in two-thirds of an inning in Cleveland and was bailed out by Cedric Mullins’ outfield assist.

The first five Guardians batters reached against Soto Friday in his Orioles debut. He retired one and was removed.

TORONTO – After the Orioles got just one run over six innings in losing 4-1 last night to Toronto and lefty Yusei Kikuchi, they face another top starting pitcher today in former Oriole right-hander Kevin Gausman. 

After winning Monday and Tuesday, the O’s lost last night and now are 66-42 but once again lead the American League East. They are 1.5 games ahead of Tampa Bay for the eighth straight day after the Rays’ 7-2 loss to the Yankees.

The Orioles lead third-place Toronto by 6.5 games and are nine games ahead of Boston and 10 up on New York.

Even if the Orioles lose today and split this series, this will be the 10^th straight AL East series where the O’s won or tied the series and didn't lose it. They went 7-0-2 in the previous nine. They are 23-14 for the year in AL East games and 21-10 in 31 games over these last 10 division series.

Toronto has lost six straight AL East series and needs a win today to avoid losing this one. Toronto (60-49) has won six of its last 10 and 15 of 24 games overall. The Blue Jays are 34-24 (.586) over their past 58 games.

TORONTO – In their first matchup against former Oriole right-hander Kevin Gausman today, the O's scored a third-round knockout. Well, a third-inning departure anyway. They treated their 2012 top draft pick (No. 4 overall) rudely today as they beat the Toronto Blue Jays 10-2 to split the four-game series.

The Orioles went 4-4 on this road trip and return home at 28-37 to host the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday night. This was the first series of three or more games where the O’s won or split versus Toronto since Aug. 1-4, 2019.

The Orioles will head home with some momentum, having won four of the last six games and they are 6-5 over the last 11. They are 14-13 the past 27 games and 9-7 in their past 16 AL East games. They are 7-7 this month.  

Gausman began the outing at 5-5 and his 2.67 ERA ranked ninth-best in the American League. Signed by the Blue Jays in December to a five-year deal worth $110 million, he allowed two earned runs or less in eight of his 12 starts this season. Gausman also recorded seven quality starts.

But it was quality at-bats that did him in during the top of the third inning. They scored six runs on seven hits to open a 7-0 lead at Rogers Centre. The O’s scored six runs in an inning three times at Camden Yards in early May. But they had never done it on the road until today.