Baltimore Orioles: Gonzalez plus situational hitting

One hates to hold a 4-strikeout game against a Baltimore Oriole who hit a home run Saturday, but Chris Davis is at it again. The Golden Sombrero in Monday’s loss to the Yankees including a bases-loaded strikeout. Then an 0-for-3 night with two K’s Tuesday night, in a win over the Yankees.

The best thing to do from a mental health standpoint is to take the long view and be as confident as possible that he’ll smooth himself out over the course of the season. But I’m starting to think it wasn’t just the Adderall. He just looks lost.

Tuesday night featured a sharply pitched, 7-inning, 1-run, 4-hit effort from Miguel Gonzalez, a bit of a nervous 8th inning from Kevin Gausman, and a 4-out save from Zach Britton, after an error by Alejandro De Aza put the Yankees’ tie run at second with two outs in the 8th. Gonzalez went seven full innings, giving up a run on four hits, striking out 10 including the side in the seventh, with his splitter befuddling the Yankees all night.

Situational baseball was also on display. Adam Jones, who had hit his fourth home run in the first inning, sacrificed Everth Cabrera home by flying out to right field in the third.

Jones is 11 for 15 with four homers in the five games of the homestand. In the fourth, Caleb Joseph singled in Delmon Young, and in the 7th, Joseph tripled and scored on Cabrera’s sac fly, the run by which the Orioles won.

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