Unless Orioles manager Buck Showalter changes his mind later this week, Kevin Gausman will make his third major league start on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers. His home debut will follow a disappointing outing last night in Washington, where he allowed seven runs and eight hits - including three home runs - in four innings. Catcher Matt Wieters shared his thoughts on Gausman after last night's 9-3 loss to the Nationals. Here's a sampling, which may be used today as leftovers for lunch....

Baseball is always looking to innovate. Most baseball fans' bookshelves include books like Moneyball and The Extra 2 Percent - books about how the A's and Rays innovated in order to win at baseball despite not having the money to win the way everyone else did. This desire to find advantages is nothing new to baseball and wasn't always about statistical analysis. Candy Cummings was a major league pitcher from 1872-77 and is in the Hall of Fame as the pitcher credited with inventing the...

Timely piece of work on Tuesday from SI's Tom Verducci about struggling closers around MLB, with our own Jim Johnson starring as co-Exhibit A with Fernando Rodney of the Rays. It's worth a read, but here's the salient point: It's not a surprise that Johnson, 29, and Rodney, 36, are struggling, especially given their age and workload last season. The surprise would have been if they pitched as well this year as they did last year. I'm on record as one who argues against statistics...

In his major league debut, Nathan Karns faced an Orioles squad that has smacked the most homers in the majors. In his second big league outing, Karns will get the Braves, the team with the second-most homers in the bigs. The 25-year-old right-hander isn't exactly getting eased into action at this level, is he? Karns pitched pretty well last night in his first major league start, allowing three runs over 4 1/3 innings against a potent Orioles lineup. He didn't go the five innings needed to...

Manny Machado played 51 games for the Orioles as a rookie last year. Last night marked his 52nd game of the 2013 season. Showalter hasn't noticed much of a difference in Machado beyond the statistics, which included a single and walk last night that left his average at .335. "He seems to have a pretty good approach about it. He doesn't get too high or too low," Showalter said. "He's very competitive. You can tell between at-bats and things, if he doesn't do something he thinks he's...

After having a selection between the third and fifth pick in the first round of the First-Year Player Draft for the last six years, the Orioles will not make a selection until the 22nd pick in the draft in round one this year. The draft will be held from June 6-8. The last time the Orioles picked 22nd or lower with their first pick was in 1998 when they drafted Georgia high school outfielder Rick Elder with the 26th overall pick. One year after selecting LSU pitcher Kevin Gausman with the...

The thinking coming into tonight was that regardless of how Nathan Karns pitched in his major league debut today, he would most likely be heading back to Double-A Harrisburg after the outing was over. But with Ross Detwiler still feeling some tightness in his right oblique/back and Karns putting up a solid performance in his first big league start, the Nationals have opted to keep Karns around and let him get another start Sunday in Atlanta. "He's gonna stay here and have a start Sunday,"...

The best news of Nathan Karns' young career got even better following his major league debut. After tossing 4 1/3 innings in which he scattered five hits and allowed the hot-hitting Orioles attack only three runs, Karns found out he will get another start for the Nationals on Sunday in Atlanta. "I got the first one out of the way," Karns said. "I am just going to go back to work tomorrow. And do what I do to get back to my next start and go from there." His first major league start was...

WASHINGTON - Orioles manager Buck Showalter confirmed that Kevin Gausman will make his third major league start on Sunday against the Detroit Tigers at Camden Yards. Gausman will be making his home debut against a team that began tonight leading the American League in average, hits, runs and on-base percentage. "He's fine. He'll be all right," Showalter said. Gausman allowed seven runs and eight hits in four innings tonight in a 9-3 loss to the Washington Nationals before 35,664 at...

After allowing just three homers over eight starts and 46 1/3 innings this season at Double-A Bowie, right-hander Kevin Gausman gave up three tonight as the Nationals beat the Orioles 9-3 at Nats Park. Gausman gave up a three-run homer to Adam LaRoche on a 2-0 fastball after allowing back-to-back singles with one out in the first inning. The Orioles got solo homers from Chris Davis (his 17th) and J.J. Hardy (his 10th) to tie the game in the top of the fourth. Davis has hit four homers in his...