Baltimore Orioles fall as Kevin Gausman struggles in Boston

Kevin Gausman lasted only three innings and gave up six runs as the Baltimore Orioles fell 6-4 to Boston at Fenway Park.

In many of his starts for the Baltimore Orioles this season, Kevin Gausman found himself as a hard-luck loser. That wasn’t the case last night, as the Birds fell 6-4 on the heels of a very tough third inning for Gausman. He was able to get through two unscathed, however the third inning was all Boston needed. In fact, it was all they go. Gausman’s line: 3.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 BB, 3 K.

When I say it was all they got, I mean that literally. Boston scored six runs off of Gausman in the third, but were unable to net anything else off of any Oriole reliever. In fact, the Birds almost came back on the BoSox, something that can’t make their coaching staff very comfortable.

Big innings start innocently enough. With Boston already leading 1-0, they had two on and nobody out in the third, Gausman seemed to get a gift in the sense that Bogaerts hit a comebacker straight to him. That should have been a double-play – which would have changed the dynamic of the inning and the game. However the ball ticked off of Gausman’s glove, and ended up an infield RBI-single.

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Ortiz would add an RBI-single of his own a moment later, and the O’s trailed 2-0. That brought Ramirez to the plate, and his three-run homer ran the score to 6-0. The Orioles would lift Gausman after that third inning. You don’t want to do that, however it was obvious he didn’t have it on this night. He was getting too much of the plate on his fastballs, and his breaking pitches weren’t really breaking.

However as I said, the Orioles’ bullpen didn’t yield a run. Now that’s eventually going to change if they continually get put into long relief, however the bullpen put the Birds in a position to have a shot. And with their offense, they always have a shot.

Unfortunately for the O’s, they were hitting against Boston’s knuckleballer, Wright. He of course shut them down at Camden Yards on Memorial Day, and appeared to be doing the same thing here. However come the seventh inning he started to tire. Adam Jones put the O’s on the board with a two-run homer which cut the lead to 6-2. Matt Wieters‘ RBI-double an inning later cut it to 6-3, and Jonathan Schoop added an RBI-single later in the inning. 

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Unfortunately for the Birds however, that was as close as they were going to get. But needless to say, they did strike some fear into Boston. When you have a big lead and the opponent is able to close to within two runs late, it gives you pause. It also shows that even on nights when the starting pitching is lackluster, this team is going to to have a shot to win.

After the game Gausman was frank about his struggles out there on the mound (quote courtesy of Brittany Ghiroli, mlb.com):

"Especially with after the way [Chris] Tillman pitched last night, I was really excited in wanting to be the stopper again today. Didn’t do it. In a game where, against a team that’s really good, in obviously a series that means a lot right now. I wanted to come out and hit the ground running and pitch well and I just didn’t do that."

Gausman is still in search of his first win of the season. This start didn’t help that cause, however for the most part as I said he’s found himself a hard-luck loser. He’s also been non-decisioned in several starts. Every year there’s a pitcher on every staff that just doesn’t get the run support he should. This year it’s Gausman for the Orioles.

The series concludes this evening with what amounts to a rubber match. Tyler Wilson as anounced as the starter for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by former Oriole farmhand Eduardo Rodriguez. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.

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