Hearing from Tillman and Showalter before tonight's game

Chris Tillman said his lower back feels much better and he expects to start Thursday afternoon against the Mariners.

How much better is it?

"Good, great, fantastic, swell," he said.

Tillman played catch this afternoon to make sure the spasms didn't return.

"I'll see how it feels and go from there, but as far as I'm concerned, I feel good," he said.

Tillman said he could have pitched tonight or Wednesday, but manager Buck Showalter wanted to give him extra rest.

"The way I feel now, yeah, but we had to make a decision obviously a couple days ago on that," he said.

Tillman will face former teammate Nelson Cruz on Thursday. Cruz is 1-for-8 with a home run and four strikeouts against him.

Tillman doesn't think the Orioles or Cruz hold an advantage based on familiarity.

"This game evens itself out pretty steadily and often," Tillman said. "I think as long as we make our pitches, we'll be all right and if we don't, we're not going to be all right. He can hit the ball a long way."

Cruz is batting .367 with 13 home runs and 26 RBIs while playing right field.

I wrote earlier that Kevin Gausman made 25 throws today from 60 feet and will progress to 90 feet on Thursday before throwing batting practice Saturday in Miami.

"He felt great," Showalter said. "Just trying to hold him back a little. He's ready to go."

The Orioles talked to Bud Norris about making two shorter rehab starts or one longer outing. He preferred two work days and one start.

Does Norris return to the rotation after being activated?

"I plan on him rejoining the rotation all things being equal," Showalter said. "We'll see if all things are equal when he's ready to come back. How's that?"

Tyler Wilson could be part of the rotation in 2016, if not sooner, but he's currently a member of the bullpen after being recalled yesterday.

"Obviously, we think a lot of him potentially as a starter down the road," Showalter said. "He comes from a real good pitching program in college (at Virginia). Good delivery, can repeat it, very athletic. Really like the way he went for it, so to speak, in spring training. He felt like he had nothing to lose. He's a Friday night pitcher, 10th round. Everybody thought he was a tweener, a lot of people, and he showed that he's done well at every level except this one so far, so there's only one way to find out.

"It's interesting how he's actually gotten left-handed hitters out better than right-handers so far this year, but it hasn't been the norm up until this year. I think the changeup has come some. I like the way he attack the zone, strike thrower. I don't think he's going to be scared on any stage. Velocity has played up a little bit as he's progressed to pitching on a normal program every fifth day. What else? Holds runners.

"He's one of those guys you don't see 97, but you keep seeing his team's in the game every night, he's throwing strikes, he's holding runners, he's doing things to win baseball games. And if you take him back to his sophomore year in high school, it's followed him everywhere he's been. And there's a reason why."

Showalter didn't get the chance to break the news of Wilson's promotion. He was too busy talking to Norris about the disabled list, so director of major league administration Ned Rice informed Wilson that the Orioles were recalling him.

"I always get the bad one. I don't ever get the good one," Showalter said.

"I barely saw Mike Wright. I haven't seen him hardly since he pitched. I talked to his mom and dad after the game."

Wilson was on the taxi squad Sunday and had to wait until almost 8 p.m., last night to learn his fate.

"We told him we'd call him," Showalter said. "I think he's OK with it. It ended real well so far."

According to Elias, Wright became the first pitcher in franchise history to earn a win in his major league debut as a starter without allowing any runs or issuing any walks. Only two other active pitchers have achieved the feat in their debuts - Anibal Sanchez with the Marlins on June 25, 2006 and Odrisamer Despaigne on June 23, 2014 for the Padres.