O's game blog: It's Gausman against Rodriguez in matchup of former O's top prospects

When the Orioles host Boston tonight in the opener of a three-game series, the pitching matchup features two pitchers that are former top prospects for the Orioles.

Kevin Gausman (2-6, 4.43 ERA) faces Boston left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (9-5, 4.05 ERA). Rodriguez was traded when the O's added reliever Andrew Miller in July 2014.

For two years, these two were ranked among the top five O's prospects by Baseball America. At the end of the 2012 season, Gausman was the O's No. 2 prospect and Rodriguez was No. 5. After the 2013 season, Gausman was No. 2 and Rodriguez was No. 3 on the Orioles list.

Gausman is making his 14th start of the season. On Tuesday at New York, he gave up one run over five innings against the Yankees. In nine home games and six starts at Camden Yards, he is 1-1 with a 2.75 ERA.

Rodriguez gave up eight runs in five innings Aug. 12 versus Miami. In four starts since then he is 3-0 with an ERA of 1.96. In nine first-half starts, he went 5-2 with a 3.59 ERA, and in nine starts after the All-Star break, he is 4-3 with a 4.53 ERA.

He has started twice against his former team this season. On June 9, he pitched six scoreless innings, giving up just three hits. On June 25, he went 3 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and six runs.

Boston is last in the American League East at 68-74, but is just one game behind the Orioles and Tampa Bay at 69-73. Boston has won seven of its last nine games, outscoring its opponents 60-34. The Red Sox are 16-8 since Aug. 18.

Their starting pitchers have been on a nice roll lately. Over the last nine games, Boston starters have pitched to an ERA of 2.35 and allowed two earned runs or less in 17 of the last 24 contests.

Tonight at Camden Yards, NASA astronaut Terry Virts, a 1985 graduate of Columbia's Oakland Mills High School, will present manager Buck Showalter with an Orioles jersey he took to the International Space Station.

Virts served as commander of Expedition 43 during a 199-day mission to the International Space Station before returning to Earth in June. While on the ISS, he conducted three spacewalks totaling more than 19 hours and supported hundreds of science experiments during his mission. In his free time, he took a record-breaking 319,275 photographs, including shots of every major league ballpark from his vantage point more than 250 miles above the planet. Virts also spoke with several Orioles players live via video from the ISS during the team's trip to Houston in June.

"The Orioles are the team of my youth from the '70s and '80s," Virts said this afternoon. "They went to the World Series and had some great teams and they are still my team today. When I was flying this mission, I contacted the Orioles and asked if I could fly an Orioles jersey to be put on display at the stadium. Felt it would be a nice connection with a local guy that went in space and this jersey was in space."

Virts had a picture taken in space where he was wearing a Matt Wieters shirt.

"Yes, I had a Matt Wieters shirt," he said. "I'd love to give it to Matt, but unfortunately it is still in space. I'm waiting for the next ride for it to come back. An Orioles hat is still in space, too."

Virts has some good memories he said of some very good Orioles teams. He played high school baseball at Oakland Mills and some of his high school teammates are here tonight.

"My favorite Orioles memory is the 1979 team. I got a chance to go a playoff game against the Angels and a World Series game against the Pirates," he said as he prepared to throw out tonight's first pitch.