Gonzalez takes his turn tonight

HOUSTON - Former heavyweight boxing champion and Houston native George Foreman will throw out the ceremonial first pitch for tonight's Civil Rights Game between the Orioles and Astros. Then it's up to Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez to stay on his feet through the later rounds. Gonzalez has registered three straight quality starts, allowing six earned runs in 19 innings. The streak began on May 10 at Camden Yards, when he held the Astros to two runs over seven innings in a 5-4 victory. George Springer doubled and homered off Gonzalez. He also homered last night off reliever Preston Guilmet. In fact, he has seven homers over the last seven games. It's what he does. Gonzalez is 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA and two quality starts in three career outings against the Astros. In his only start in Houston on June 6, 2013, he earned the win after allowing one earned run and five hits in six innings, with one walk and seven strikeouts. Astros left-hander Brett Oberholtzer has faced the Orioles once and he dominated, shutting them out on three hits over seven innings with no walks and six strikeouts on July 31, 2013. Chris Davis and Nick Markakis are 1-for-3 against Oberholtzer. Steve Pearce is 1-for-2. Adam Jones leads the majors in batting average against left-handed pitching, hitting .457/.510/.826 in 51 plate appearances. His 1.336 OPS ranks fourth. Nelson Cruz ranks second with a 1.414 OPS vs. left-handers, batting .394/.535/.879 in 43 plate appearances. Cruz has hit safely in 10 straight games since May 20, batting .472/.556/1.194 (17-for-36) with five doubles, seven home runs, 12 RBIs, 13 runs scored and eight walks. Oberholtzer's six losses this season are tied for most in the American League. He's still trying to catch Pittsburgh's Charlie Morton (seven) for tops in the majors. The Orioles are 18-8 (.692) when scoring four runs or more and 8-18 (.308) when scoring three runs or fewer.