O's game blog: Matt Wieters on returning to Camden Yards (Rajsich on today's draft)

Matt Wieters was pretty happy to return to the Orioles roster over the weekend, and tonight he gets to play in front of the home fans for the first time since May 10, 2014.

"I'm excited, this is a great place to play," Wieters said this afternoon. "Been looking forward to getting back to playing at Camden Yards for a long time now. I'm ready to go and excited we have a big series here with Boston."

Wieters is 5-for-12 with a double, a triple, a homer, 3 RBIs and an OPS of 1.301 in his first three games.

"It's always nice to get off to a good start, whether it is April or June," he said. "But it's still a long season. Not a six-month season for me this year, but still a lot of games to play."

Wieters was asked about facing Orioles former minor leaguer Eduardo Rodriguez tonight.

"He's got a great arm. Caught him a lot in spring training. He's a quality left-handed pitcher. Not a guy that you would want to give up but in order for us to get Andrew (Miller), we had to give up something. He will be tough tonight. Got a really good fastball," he said.

The Orioles get back into playing American League East games tonight as they begin an eight-game homestand with a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox.

The Orioles (26-30), winners of three of their last four games, will play AL East teams nine times in the next 13 games.

They start this homestand tied for last place with Boston, both clubs 5 1/2 games back of New York.

The Orioles pitchers have been throwing well in recent days. Over the last five games, the team ERA is 2.51 and the rotation ERA is 2.76.

The Red Sox come to town after sweeping a three-game series versus Oakland. Boston (27-31) has won five of six games. The Red Sox are 5-2 in June after going 10-19 in May.

Boston's pitchers have also fared better recently with a team ERA of 2.39 over their last eight games.

On the mound tonight, Miguel Gonzalez (5-4, 3.54 ERA) faces Rodriguez, a 22-year-old left-hander. Rodriguez was traded by the Orioles to Boston last July for Miller.

According to Elias, Rodriguez is the first pitcher in baseball's modern era (since 1900) who went at least seven innings, allowed no more than three hits and allowed no more than one run in each of his first two MLB appearances.

Rodriguez became the first American League lefty with seven or more strikeouts in back-to-back outings to begin a major league career since Al Leiter in 1987, and was the first Red Sox lefty to do that since at least 1914.

The Orioles signed Rodriguez for $175,000 at age 17 out of Valencia, Venezuela. He was signed by former O's pitcher Calvin Maduro and, on the O's watch, became a top 100 ranked prospect. He was No. 65 by Baseball America at the end of the 2013 season and No. 59 after last year.

When the Orioles traded Rodriguez last July, he told me, "I thank these guys for all they did for me." Read that story from last summer here.

Rajsich on today's draft: Orioles scouting director Gary Rajsich drafted eight players today in Rounds 3 through 10, taking five high school players and three college pitchers. He selected four positions players (three outfielders) and four pitchers.

He said there was one surprise for him today.

"(Pitcher Gray) Fenter was a surprise for us in the seventh round. But we realized, talking to their advisor, that we have the funds to do it," he said. "It's a big arm for us. Maybe a top of the draft, first-day type talent that we were able to get in the seventh round, so we were very excited about that one."

Out of an Arkansas high school, Fenter can touch 96 with his pitches and has a Mississippi State college commitment.

Rajsich sounds like a man that expects to sign all 11 players picked so far, and some signings could come pretty fast with these players.