Baltimore Orioles’ Kevin Gausman wins his first game of 2016

Kevin Gausman pitched a gem in the first game of a twin bill for the Baltimore Orioles as they defeated Tampa 5-0.

It’s been tough going for Kevin Gausman this year, as he would either be ineffective or the Baltimore Orioles wouldn’t score runs for him. In his previous two starts coming into today, he had pitched a combined eight innings. All of those streaks ended today, as he picked up his first win of the season. Gausman’s line: 7.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K.

Gausman gave the Orioles exactly the type of outing that they needed this afternoon. When you’re playing in a doubleheader you find yourself in really good shape when and if your starter can give you a long outing in game one. The last thing anyone wants to have to do is go to the bullpen early. The fact that Gausman didn’t put the O’s in a position to have to do that is huge and it bodes well for game two.

The Orioles got on the board in the last of the second when J.J. Hardy smacked an RBI-single u the middle to give the BIrds a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning Adam Jones gave the Birds a 2-0 lead with an RBI-single of his own. That lead held up for some time – well, for the entire game. But it wasn’t until the sixth that the Birds added to it… 

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…when Francisco Pena smacked another RBI-single and gave the Birds a 3-0 lead. Pedro Alvarez joined the parade one inning later with a two-RBI single, and the O’s led 5-0 – a lead that held up for the rest of the game. Gausman recorded one out in the eighth inning before giving up a base hit, which was when his day ended. On his final pitch, he hit 99 MPH on the gun.

It can’t be stressed enough how big a “solid” that Gausman did for his bullpen today. Only having to use one reliever when you have an additional game to play today is huge. That keeps the bullpen in effect on normal rest given that almost everyone (Drake being the exception) is still on normal rest.

The fact is that teams don’t like doubleheaders because they almost always end up being split. However winning the opener puts the Birds in a good position because the pressure really gets put on Tampa now given the fact that they’ve now lost eight straight. With that said, at some point they’re going to snap out of it – the O’s just hope it’s after they leave town.

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Manager Buck Showalter began his postgame press conference this afternoon with just a simple teaser:

Gaus was good, huh?

Tough to argue with that for sure.

Next: Baltimore Orioles brought back ont he bat of Adam Jones

Game two of the doubleheader of course is this evening. Chris Tillman will be on the mound for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Jake Odorizzi. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.