Baltimore Orioles: Kevin Gausman gets his second win

Kevin Gausman was fairly dominant in the Baltimore Orioles’ 5-2 victory over Cleveland last night. It was Gausman’s second win of the season.

The Baltimore Orioles have struggled to put up runs for Kevin Gausman this season. It’s unclear why, however it seems that there’s always a pitcher on every rotation who gets no run support. This year it seems to be Gausman, who was 1-7 coming into last night’s game.

And Gausman made it impossible for himself to lose this game, as he didn’t yield any runs. Gausman’s line: 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K. Unincluded in that stat line of course is the fact that Gausman even had to endure a short 15-minute rain delay as showers passed over Oriole Park at Camden Yards. You immediately felt badly in that perhaps if it lasted long enough the Orioles wouldn’t send Gausman back out. But there are innings that are longer than 15 minutes!

Chris Davis got the Orioles on the board in the last of the first by running out what could have been a double-play. Davis was safe at first base, allowing Jones to score from third base and give the O’s a 1-0 lead. And a moment later Davis was touching home plate as well, after a Trumbo two-run home – his league-leading 30th of the season.

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Pedro Alvarez would add a solo shot, and Jonathan Schoop an RBI-single – both in the last of the seventh. Cleveland would try to make it interesting late, as Chisenhall’s two-RBI double in the ninth cut the Orioles’ lead to 5-2 with two outs. However the Birds immediately summoned Britton from the bullpen to record the final out, and they cruise to victory.

The O’s have now taken the first two of three in this series with Cleveland. Gausman himsef pointed to the series win as being important when asked after the game about his second victory on the year (quote courtesy of Ryan Baillargeron, mlb.com):

"It’s always good. But it’s more important that we won this series. That’s a very good team that we are playing. … Any time you beat a team in the American League, especially a team that is leading their division, it’s huge."

The good news for Gausman is that he had run support last night before he even stepped on the field. That’s been a rarity this year.