O's game blog: Kevin Gausman faces Cole Hamels in Game 2 with Texas

The recently streaky Orioles look for a third straight win tonight when they host the American League Central-leading Texas Rangers at Camden Yards. Since July 17, the Orioles have lost four in a row, won five in a row, lost four straight and now have won their past two games over Toronto and Texas.

At 60-45, the Orioles lead the AL East by one game over Toronto and two games over Boston. The Orioles are 38-16 at home and are 12-2-3 in 17 home series at Oriole Park.

On the mound tonight, right-hander Kevin Gausman (2-8, 4.18 ERA) faces Texas left-hander Cole Hamels (12-2, 2.84 ERA). Hamels is second in the AL in ERA, tied for fifth in wins and was on the AL All-Star team.

Gausman is coming an outing where he allowed three solo homers to the first five batters he faced Friday at Toronto. He gave up six runs over three innings in that game and afterward said, "This is obviously a big series for us right now, so for me to go out there and not even be competitive was bad." You can read Gausman's postgame quotes from that last start here.

In seven home starts, Gausman is 2-1 with a 2.36 ERA and .218 batting average against. Gausman has allowed just one run in 20 2/3 innings in his past three home starts. He has a scoreless streak of 17 2/3 innings at home.

Hamels is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.84 in three starts since the All-Star break. He has allowed 15 hits and two earned runs in 21 1/3 innings with four walks and 23 strikeouts. He has recorded 14 quality starts this season and the Rangers are 16-5 in his 21 starts.

Showalter on some baby Birds: Orioles manager Buck Showalter is known to often mention minor league players during his pregame press conference and it happened again today. It came in the context of what he said could be an interesting winter for the Orioles to decide which players they may have to add to their 40-man roster in advance of the Rule 5 draft.

One name that is now on the radar is 21-year-old right-hander Jesus Liranzo from the Dominican Republic. He was released by Atlanta and signed by the Orioles. After he had an elbow procedure, he's had a big year on the O's farm and was recently promoted from Single-A Delmarva to Double-A Bowie.

"You been watching this Liranzo kid? Pretty special," Showalter said. "They moved him up to Double-A because he was lighting it up. He's got a plus slider, too. He has a screw in his elbow. Guy named Pedro Strop had one of those. Great pickup by our guys. He may have to be protected."

Liranzo throws 96-97 mph with a solid slider. He had an ERA of 1.05 with Delmarva and fanned 46 while allowing just 12 hits in 34 1/3 innings with the Shorebirds. He has pitched three scoreless innings in his first two games for Bowie. The Orioles signed him as minor league free agent July 6, 2013.

"Tell you a kid that is coming onto the scene is (Jimmy) Yacabonis. He's come on throwing 97, 98," Showalter said. "The (Stefan) Crichton kid, too. There are four or five of them throwing the ball good. Audry Perez has had heck of a year down there. He's healthy again. Going to be an interesting offseason roster."

Yacabonis is 2-1 with a 1.65 ERA in 23 games at Bowie. Crichton is 2-5 with a 3.79 ERA for the Baysox. He has an ERA of 1.46 in July.

New Aberdeen boss: The short-season Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds today announced the appointment of Matt Slatus as general manager. Slatus will oversee the front office and game day operations, lead all ticket sales efforts and continue to engage the local Harford County community.

With more than 10 years of experience working with professional sports organizations, Slatus has also spent time with the Brooklyn Cyclones, Staten Island Yankees, Madison Square Garden Sports and Major League Baseball. Slatus received his bachelor's degree in sports management from New York University before earning his master'Â’s degree at Ohio University.