Facing Norris, Aquino's arrival, Shorebirds pitcher gets award

LOS ANGELES - The Orioles will have a reunion of sorts with old friend Bud Norris in the final game of this series on Wednesday afternoon. He will pitch for the Dodgers against Kevin Gausman.

Los Angeles acquired Norris in a trade from Atlanta last Thursday and he made his Dodgers debut the next night. He threw six scoreless innings on two hits against Colorado. The start before that with Atlanta, he threw seven shutout innings.

The Orioles last saw a badly struggling Norris, but he turned his game around this year and went 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA in June that was eighth-best in the National League.

Norris was a key rotation piece for the 2014 Orioles American League East championship team, going 15-8 with a 3.65 ERA. But a year later, he went 2-9 with a 7.06 ERA for Baltimore and got released Aug. 8.

O's manager Buck Showalter said he is not surprised to see Norris pitching well again.

"He's got a good arm," Showalter said. "Just kind of change of scenery, get a start over. Bud is a good pitcher and we've all seen that. Timing is everything. I'm happy for him. I know it really bothered him that he couldn't make a contribution that he was capable of. He was doing well in Atlanta before he came here. There were a lot of people talking about him, including us. As usual, the Dodgers have more to offer."

Aquino debuts: The Orioles were on their way to what would turn out to be another loss, but there was a nice moment last night in the last of the eighth inning when 23-year-old lefty Jayson Aquino made his major league debut. The native of the Dominican Republic faced two batters and got Chase Utley to fly out and Corey Seager to line out. Aquino threw nine pitches.

Aquino, who pitched for three different organizations in 2015, was acquired by the Orioles on April 7 from St. Louis for cash considerations. With Double-A Bowie, he went 4-7 with a 3.25 ERA. But over his last six starts for the Baysox, he pitched to a 1.80 ERA. In his last start, he pitched seven scoreless innings on just two hits.

Partly because of pitching so well, partly because the O's needed a fresh bullpen arm and partly because he was already on the 40-man roster, Aquino made the majors for the first time yesterday. He had a huge smile on his face when reporters approached him in the clubhouse before yesterday's game.

"Right now, I'm very happy," he said. "This is unbelievable for me. Seven years and (I've) changed a lot of teams. But been working hard every day and thank you to Baltimore for bringing me here. I've really been working hard every day since spring training. I'm ready."

The O's have had two pitchers make their major league debuts in two games. Ariel Miranda pitched in Sunday's game and Aquino replaced Miranda on the roster yesterday.

Seager streaking: The Orioles got a good look Monday at the player that may turn out to be this year's National League Rookie of the Year, Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager. The O's had played against his brother Kyle in Seattle.

Corey Seager, 22, was ranked by Baseball America as the No. 5 prospect in the sport after the 2014 season. At the end of the 2015, he was named the No. 1 prospect in baseball.

Now he is batting .305 with 17 homers, 41 RBIs and a .903 OPS in 84 games. He had an RBI single and triple in five at-bats last night. He has a 17-game hitting streak right now that is the longest in the National League this year and the current longest in the majors. During the streak, Seager is batting .414 (29-for-70). His streak is the third-longest ever by a Dodgers rookie.

Alvarado honored: Single-A Delmarva right-hander Cristian Alvarado is the latest South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Week. He threw seven innings of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts in his last start. In 15 starts for the season for the Shorebirds, Alvarado is 6-4 with a 3.17 ERA.

A 21-year-old right-hander from Venezuela, Alvarado has thrown 19 scoreless innings over his past three starts. He is the league leader in strikeouts with 95 over 82 1/3 innings.