O's game blog: It's Kevin Gausman against Sonny Gray in Oakland series finale

They may be two of the top young right-handed pitchers in baseball. Both pitched at Southeastern Conference schools. Both were first-round draft picks. They faced each other about six weeks ago and meet again today in Oakland.

The Orioles' Kevin Gausman (4-2, 3.29 ERA) will face the A's Sonny Gray (10-3, 2.79 ERA) in the third and deciding game of the series.

The 23-year-old Gausman was the Orioles' top pick, No. 4 overall, out of LSU in 2012. The 24-year-old Gray was Oakland's top pick, No. 18 overall, out of Vanderbilt in 2011.

When Vandy and LSU met during the 2011 season, both pitched in that series but not against each other. They did face each other June 7 at Camden Yards. The Orioles won 6-3 as Gausman gave up just four hits and one run over seven innings.

Gray allowed five runs to tie his season high over 5 1/3 innings. The Orioles took a 1-0 lead off him in the first inning when Adam Jones - who else? - hit a homer.

That earlier game was on a Saturday night. The next day, when the A's Brandon Moss came up to home plate, the O's catcher was Nick Hundley. Moss said he told Hundley how good Gausman had looked the night before.

"That guy, I got to home plate in my first at bat and I looked at (Nick) Hundley and I said, 'How can that guy be in Triple-A?,' " Moss said. "From what I understand, he's had some command issues, but the way he pitched, that was the best stuff we've seen all year.

"The first at-bat, you could tell he had (velocity), but you never know how that is going to go. We can adapt to that. Second and third at-bats, he started mixing in off-speed for strikes and keeping it down. Then he had 99 i(mph) n the tank when he needed it."

Moss would know about seeing a 99 mph pitch. In the sixth inning that night, the A's put runners on second and third with one out. Gausman fanned Josh Donaldson on a changeup and got Moss with 99 mph heat.

Both pitchers are throwing well as they get set to meet again. Over his last three starts, Gray is 3-0 with an ERA of 0.83.

Since giving up five runs in his first big league start of 2014, Gausman is 4-1 with a 2.36 ERA over his last six starts. Five times in that stretch, he has given up one run or less.

It's not LSU against Vanderbilt today, it's the Orioles and the Athletics. With Gausman and Gray on the mound, it should be a fun match-up in the series finale.