Gonzalez tries to keep the rotation rolling

The Orioles didn't announce any changes to their rotation last night besides Bud Norris' placement on the disabled list, leaving us to assume that Miguel Gonzalez is starting tonight's series opener against the Mariners at Camden Yards.

Manager Buck Showalter confirmed on Sunday that Gonzalez would get the assignment, followed by left-hander Wei-Yin Chen on Wednesday. Chris Tillman figures to start Thursday afternoon now that his back has improved.

The Mariners are sending Taijuan Walker, Roenis Elias and J.A. Happ to the mound.

It's not hard to understand why Showalter wants the ball in Gonzalez's hand tonight. He's able to give Tillman the extra rest needed to quiet the back spasms, and Gonzalez has posted a 2.93 ERA in seven starts.

Gonzalez has allowed one earned run or fewer in four of his seven starts. He's completed six innings in four outings and seven innings in three. Right-handers are batting .184 against him and left-handers are hitting .228.

This is called picking up where he left off last season. Gonzalez had a 2.19 ERA in his last 11 starts. He allowed three earned runs or fewer in 23 of his 26 starts.

Gonzalez's exposure to the Mariners is limited. He's 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA in two starts.

Dustin Ackley is 4-for-6 with a double and home run and Chris Taylor is 4-for-5 with a double. Robinson Cano is 3-for-27 (.111) with a home run.

Former Oriole Nelson Cruz, who's 2-for-8 with a double against Gonzalez, makes his return to Camden Yards tonight. He's batting .340/.395/.694 with 15 home runs and 30 RBIs in 37 games.

The 15 home runs lead the majors by one over the Nationals' Bryce Harper.

Since the subject is bound to come up again, the Orioles wanted to re-sign Cruz over the winter. However, they didn't want to include a fourth year. I can't imagine that anyone in the organization is stunned by his magnificent start to the 2015 season.

Cruz is a career .344/.392/.544 hitter with 12 doubles, a triple, six home runs and 31 RBIs in 41 games against the Orioles. He's a .269/.330/.467 hitter with 24 doubles, 17 home runs and 49 RBIs in 100 games at Camden Yards.

Mariners shortstop Brad Miller was named the American League's Player of the Week after batting .429 with three doubles, four home runs, five RBIs and six runs scored. He led the majors with a 1.143 slugging percentage.

Walker has never faced the Orioles. David Lough is 1-for-2 with a double against him, Alejandro De Aza is 0-for-2 and Jimmy Paredes is 0-for-1 with a RBI.

Walker is 1-4 with a 7.22 ERA in seven starts this season. In his last four, he's issued five walks and struck out 19 over 21 innings.

The Mariners are taking the good with the bad. Walker allowed nine runs in 3 1/3 innings in his first start, and seven earned runs (eight total) over three innings in another outing, but he also allowed one unearned run over seven innings and two runs over six innings.

The Orioles are 16-19 and losers of eight of their last 12 games. Rookie Mike Wright gave them a huge shot in the arm on Sunday. Gonzalez will attempt to extend the rotation's streak of quality starts to five games in a row.

"We're not playing well and you're not going to sugarcoat it," closer Zach Britton said before Sunday's 3-0 victory. "It's something for me, I want to pitch better than I am. A lot of guys want to pitch better than they are. Hitters, same thing. You want to hit better than you're doing. Defensively, you want to play better. So I think it's just about everyone going, 'Hey, you know what? It's kind of time to pick it up a little bit and make the adjustments and get back to playing the right baseball.' And I think we will.

"We've got a good group of guys in here, guys who have done it before. It's just a matter of doing it. You can't keep going, 'It's early, it's early, it's early.' Eventually, it's not early anymore and you've got to really pick up the pace, and I think we've got to start doing that as a team."