Gerardo Parra officially becomes 1,000th Oriole (O's win 6-2)

Orioles starter Kevin Gausman delivered his first pitch tonight at 7:07 p.m., a ball to Tigers leadoff hitter Anthony Gose, and left fielder Gerardo Parra officially became the 1,000th player to appear in a game in team history.

He celebrated by extending his hitting streak to 15 games with a double to right field.

The guy really knows how to rise up to the occasion.

A capacity crowd gave Parra a standing ovation as he stepped into the box following Manny Machado's leadoff single. The double put both men in scoring position, and Machado crossed the plate on Chris Davis' grounder to short. Parra raced home on Matt Wieters' single to left.

Rather than be the team that fell behind early again, the Orioles raced out to a 2-0 lead against Tigers starter Anibal Sanchez.

Parra is 9-for-15 lifetime against Sanchez, assuring that he would be in tonight's lineup. He figured to play anyway. He's not here to paint.

Parra was batting .390 since June 11 heading into tonight, the highest average in the majors among players with a minimum of 139 plate appearances.

A big area of improvement for Parra centers on his production against left-handers. He's a career .236/.299/.305 hitter vs. southpaws, but he's batting .292/.340/.479 this season.

"Left on left, he's done well this year. In the past it's been somewhat of a challenge," said manager Buck Showalter. "He's at that part where you've all heard me talk how at 27, 28 to 30, guys start kind of figuring it out.

"I don't think there a tool that's a negative, below major league average. You're not going to knock the bat out of his hands. He can do a lot of things. I know he's not playing winter ball anymore. He lives in Miami most of the time and goes back (to Venezuela) some to visit family.

"I know looking at our spray charts on him from last year, the way we played him defensively, you're not going to see a lot of shifts on him. I don't think. I hope they do if ours are right."

As for Wieters, he's making his second major league start at first base and his third career appearance. The other start came in 2011.

Wieters is 4-for-7 with a home run lifetime against Sanchez, prompting Showalter to include him in the lineup. First base was the better option, considering that Wieters is 3-for-19 in six games as the designated hitter this season and is a career .207/.232/.313 hitter in 39 games filling that role.

It doesn't seem to agree with him.

Wieters caught last night and wasn't going behind the plate in back-to-back games.

Gausman has retired the first six batters he's faced. Maybe the rotation is back on track. Stay tuned.

Update: Caleb Joseph singled in the second inning to score Jimmy Paredes, who doubled, and increase the lead to 3-0.

The Orioles are 33-5 when Joseph has an RBI in his career.

Update II: The Orioles are 15-2 when Joseph has multiple RBIs in a game, which must be noted after his two-run homer in the fourth inning increased the lead to 5-0.

J.J. Hardy reached on an infield hit to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.

Gausman retired the first 11 Tigers before Ian Kinsler singled with two outs in the fourth.

Update III: Nick Castellanos hit a two-run homer in the fifth after James McCann reached on an infield single to reduce the Orioles' lead to 5-2.

Update IV: Manny Machado homered into the Orioles bullpen in the seventh inning to increase the lead to 6-2.

Machado has 23 homers and 15 stolen bases in 103 games. Who had that projection back in March?

Gausman allowed two runs and four hits in seven innings, with no walks, six strikeouts and a home run. He threw 106 pitches.

In his last two starts, Gausman allowed two runs and 10 hits in 14 2/3 innings, with one walk and 11 strikeouts.

Update V: The Orioles defeat the Tigers 6-2 before a sellout crowd of 45,968 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles have won seven of eight and are three games above .500 for the first time since being 43-40 on July 6.

Parra went 1-for-3 with a double, walk and run scored.

Brad Brach worked the last two innings and hasn't allowed a run in his last 11 appearances over 15 innings.

Gausman got his first win as a starter since Aug. 17, 2014.