The Baltimore Orioles (25-21) and Toronto Blue Jays (19-27) begin weekend series at Rogers Centre in Toronto with a Thursday night matchup. The first pitch is set for 7:07 p.m. ET and will be shown on MLB.com with a paid subscription or for free here.
Baltimore has used the most starters of any team in Major League Baseball this season. Now, they're turning to one of their top prospects in hopes to find a long-term solution.
Kevin Gausman will make his major league debut Thursday night for the visiting Orioles. He will become the 11th different pitcher to start a game for Baltimore this season, replacing Wei-Yin Chen (Strained right oblique) who is on the disabled list.
The fourth overall pick out of LSU in the 2012 draft, Gausman, 22, was 2-4 with a 3.11 ERA in eight starts with Double-A Bowie. The right-hander had 49 strikeouts and only five walks in 46 1/3 innings.
"He has the best stuff and the most consistent control of just about any pitcher that we have in the organization, so we thought employing his strength for our major league team was the way to go," general manager Dan Duquette said. "The future is now. He's throwing strikes with three pitches. He does that consistently. And he has excellent control."
Despite his inexperience, the Orioles are expecting Gausman to remain in the rotation, hoping he can duplicate the success of Manny Machado. Machado has become a fixture at third since being recalled from Bowie as a 19-year-old in August.
Machado currently leads the Orioles with a .322 average this year. "Obviously, it's going to be really exciting," Gausman said. "I try and not think about it too much. Just go out there and keep doing what you're doing and throw strikes."
Toronto will start Brandon Morrow (1-3) in Thursday night's matchup. Morrow currently holds a 5.16 ERA and is coming off a disappointing 5.0 inning start in which he allowed five earned runs in a losing effort to the New York Yankees.
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