Bowie faces former O's farmhand in Game 3 of the playoffs (Bowie up 10-2)

BOWIE, Md. - On January 27, the Orioles acquired outfielder Travis Snider from Pittsburgh for minor league pitcher Stephen Tarpley and a player to be named later.

Tonight the PTBNL pitches for the Altoona Curve against the Double-A Bowie Baysox in Game 3 of their Eastern League semfinal playoff series. That is 23-year-old left-hander Steven Brault, the Orioles' 11th-round draft pick in 2013.

Brault went 11-8 with a 2.77 ERA last year for the Orioles, pitching mostly at Single-A Delmarva, but also made three starts at Single-A Frederick. He began this year in the Florida State League at Single-A Bradenton for the Pirates, but was moved to Double-A in June.

He has been outstanding for Altoona, going 9-3 with an ERA of 2.00 in 15 starts. Ironically, his worst start for Altoona came against Bowie on July 12 when he gave up six runs in 1 2/3 innings. Since then he is 8-0 with an ERA of 0.96 his last 10 starts.

Tonight the Baysox and Curve break their 1-1 series tie. Bowie blew a 7-0 lead and lost 8-7 Wednesday night at Altoona, but they rebounded for an impressive 7-0 win last night.

Bowie outfielder Mike Yastrzemski, who homered last night, said it was big for Bowie to win Game 2 after letting Game 1 get away on Wednesday.

"That was the first and hopefully the last time that will happen this season," Yastrzemski said of the blown lead. "That win was really big last night. We wanted to come home and have a chance to keep going and move forward.

"The playoffs are important to us. We don't want the season to end. It is fun trying to represent the organization as best as we can. We want to grow as players and play deep into October one day and win a World Series. So learning to play in these tight, important games is part of that development."

Now Brault, that former O's farmhand, stands between the Baysox and a 2-1 lead in this series. Brault was ranked as the Orioles' No. 14 prospect by Baseball America at the end of the 2013 season and No. 18 at the end of last season.

Bowie first baseman Trey Mancini, the Eastern League batting champion, will tonight face his former teammate and someone he remains close with.

"He is one of my best friends, I'm still really close to Steve," Mancini said. "It will be really fun to face him in a really big game. Probably the biggest game of our minor leagues career up to now is tonight. He is really a great pitcher and this will be really fun."

When the Baysox knocked Brault out with a six-run second inning in that July 12 game at Altoona, Mancini hit a three-run homer.

Speaking of Baseball America, the publication today named its classification All-Stars for the minor leagues. Norfolk reliever Oliver Drake was named a Triple-A All-Star, Bowie's Trey Mancini and Mychal Givens were named in Double-A and catcher Chance Sisco of Frederick (now with Bowie) was named to the High-A team.

Tonight's Bowie lineup:

Corban Joseph 2B
Mike Yastrzemski RF
Trey Mancini 1B
Quincy Latimore LF
Brandon Snyder DH
Garabez Rosa 3B
David Freitas C
Ozzie Martinez SS
Glynn Davis CF

Left-hander Chris Lee starts for the Baysox tonight. He is 4-2 with a 3.08 ERA over seven Bowie starts since moving up from Single-A Frederick. He has pitched twice against Altoona, giving up three runs in five innings each time.

Norfolk wins: Triple-A Norfolk has evened its playoff series at a win each, beating Columbus 6-1 today. The game was resumed at 4:05 p.m. in the second inning after it was suspended by rain last night. Henry Urrutia hit a two-run homer and Christian Walker added a two-run shot and drove in three for Norfolk. Tyler Wilson took the mound when the game was resumed and gave up just one run over five innings. Columbus will host Game 3 on Saturday.

Nice first inning: After all that excellent recent pitching by Brault, Bowie scored three runs off him in the first inning to lead 3-0. Corban Joseph led off with a single and Trey Mancini drew a one-out walk. Then Quincy Latimore's double to left scored both runners and Garabez Rosa's triple scored Latimore. So Bowie takes the early 3-0 lead tonight.

Altoona answers: The Curve got the first three runners on and scored twice in the second inning. The game is in the fourth with Bowie leading 3-2. Lee is at 40 pitches through three.

All in the family: A member of the Orioles prominent Joseph family, Corban Joseph came up with an RBI double in the fourth that scored Glynn Davis who had doubled and the Baysox lead 4-2. Yes, Corban is Caleb's brother.

Brault battered: For the second time this year, the Baysox treated Brault rudely. He allowed six runs tonight over 4 2/3 innings and Bowie leads 6-2 after five. Latimore hit a solo homer in Bowie's two-run fifth. Brault had allowed just five runs (three earned) over 42 1/3 in his past six starts until tonight.

Latimore again: Latimore hit a three-run homer in the sixth and Bowie is winning a 10-2 blowout in the seventh. Latiomre is 3-for-4 with a double, two homers and six RBIs. He is the first Bowie player to have five or more RBIs in a playoff game since Sept, 4, 2008. That night Nolan Reimold hit three homers with eight RBIs against Akron.