Baltimore Orioles’ rally falls short in the Texas heat

Kevin Gausman struggled in the Texas heat and the Baltimore Orioles’ late rally fell short as they fell to Texas, 4-3.

Kevin Gausman and his Baltimore Orioles’ teammates didn’t appear to be too thrilled to be playing a one-game series in Texas. Heck, the Texas Rangers didn’t come off as being too happy about one game either. But that’s how the revised schedule fell after the teams were rained out back in April.

With that said, Texas only gave up an off day; the Orioles did that and had to interrupt a homestand to come back. But as I said, that’s how the revised schedule fell. This will be a week of making up rain dates for the Birds, as they’ll play a doubleheader on Saturday (at home) against Tampa to make up a rainout from week one of the season.

Gausman had one strained inning, but in effect it cost the Orioles the game. Gausman’s line: 5 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 5 K. Gausman remains winless on the season, although in most of those losses he was far from horrible. Even in last night’s game, he put the team in a position to win.

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The O’s got out to an early lead on J.J. Hardy‘s RBI-double in the second inning. That was followed by an RBI-single by Adam Jones, and an additional RBI-double by Joey Rickard. Once the smoke had cleared in the second inning, the Birds led 3-0.

Texas got on the board an inning later on Desmond’s solo homer. However it was the fourth inning when they did their damage. Wilson lifted a sac fly-RBI to center, cutting the Orioles’ lead to 3-2. However Choo followed that up with a two-RBI single, and the O’s then trailed 4-3.

And that was your ballgame. Both bullpens kept the opposing team off the board for the rest of the game. Dylan Bundy was strong out of the Orioles’ ‘pen in relief of Gausman, but the Birds couldn’t put forth another run. The Birds mounted a late rally with the go-ahead run on base, however it wasn’t to be and they fell 4-3 in this “one-game series.” 

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This isn’t the first time obviously that Dylan Bundy has been used in longer relief. He entered the game after Gausman pitched to one batter in the sixth, and finished it out. So…are the Orioles stretching him out in some manner? They’ve always viewe Bundy as a future starter, and the fact is that they can’t send him down to the minors to stretch him out. Time will tell – but I wouldn’t be surprised.

Next: Baltimore Orioles bats lift Birds over Toronto

The Orioles will now return to Camden Yards to resume their homestand as San Diego comes to town for a short two-game series. In a quirk of the schedule, these will be the Birds’ first interleague games of the season. Tyler Wilson will get the start for the Orioles, and he’ll be opposed by San Diego’s Luis Perdomo. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.