Chris Davis plays in Bowie for the second time tonight

BOWIE, Md. - The last time Chris Davis played in Double-A Bowie, he batted third and played third base. It was Sept. 5, 2011. Davis had been in the Orioles organization for just weeks and the Orioles were still weeks away from ruining Boston's season on the final day of the year.

So, yeah, it's been a while.

Tonight's Baysox lineup is out and, as expected, Davis will bat second and play at first base. He is wearing No. 24.

The last time he played at Bowie, Davis was on the major league disabled list with a strained right shoulder and was about to rejoin the Orioles. He went 3-for-6 with a double over two Baysox games.

The Bowie lineup included Caleb Joseph, Robbie Widlansky, Xavier Avery, LJ Hoes, Joe Mahoney, Buck Britton and Brandon Waring. After the Sept. 5 game, Bowie shortstop Pedro Florimon got a September call-up to the Orioles.

Here is the story I wrote from that day in Bowie.

The Baysox have had plenty of O's big league rehabbers head their way over the years. Just last season, Wilson Betemit and Nolan Reimold played rehab games here. Wei-Yin Chen made two starts for Bowie and Jason Hammel pitched in one game here on Aug. 29, pitching 2 2/3 scoreless innings.

Here is an oddity about tonight's game in Bowie: The starting pitcher for each team has a last name of Vasquez and each has pitched in the big leagues.

Left-hander Anthony Vasquez was signed by the Orioles to a minor league contract on April 9.

Vasquez, 27, went 1-6 with an 8.90 ERA in seven starts with the Seattle Mariners in 2011, allowing 13 home runs in 29 1/3 innings. He's 32-33 with a 3.78 ERA over five minor league seasons with the Mariners, making 84 starts among his 93 appearances. This year, he went 0-1 with an 8.44 ERA in two games for Triple-A Norfolk. He made one start for this Bowie team and gave up just one unearned run last Monday, but took the loss.

Vasquez underwent brain surgery following the 2012 season to repair a potentially fatal blood vessel rupture.

Right-hander Virgil Vasquez, who has pitched in the majors with the Tigers in 2007 and Pirates in 2009, gets the start for New Britain tonight.

This Vasquez is having a very good year. He is 1-0 with a 1.57 ERA. Over his last three starts, he's given up just two runs and 10 hits over 20 1/3 innings.

Check back for more from Bowie later and follow this blog and my Twitter updates (@masnSteve) tonight for the latest on Davis in Bowie.

There are tickets available if you are heading this way tonight. For more info, call the Baysox at 301-464-4865. The tarp is on the field as of just after 3 p.m. at Prince George's Stadium and there will not be any on-field batting practice. The forecast is for a 20 percent chance of rain later, so there seems a very good chance of baseball tonight.

Other minors matters: Right-hander Matt Hobgood, who left his relief outing after facing just two batters Thursday night for Single-A Frederick, has been placed on the Keys disabled list today with right shoulder inflammation. Pitcher Joe Van Meter was added to the Keys roster.

The O's 2009 first-round pick, Hobgood is 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA for Frederick over seven outings.

The Orioles got good news on Hobgood in that the diagnosis was only minor inflammation.

Single-A Delmarva added pitcher Luis Gonzalez.