Baltimore Orioles: Gausman shines in 4-0 win over Rangers

After a disappointing loss to the Texas Rangers on Friday, the Baltimore Orioles came back to tie up the series with a 4-0 win.

The Baltimore Orioles were led by Kevin Gausman who pitched a shutout gem.

He also received plenty of run support as the offense got an early lead in the second inning and never looked back.

Trey Mancini and Caleb Joseph both homered in the second inning off of Austin Bibens-Dirkx. Then, in the third inning, Jonathan Schoop scored off of a single by Mancini. Later, Chris Davis scored on a single by Seth Smith. Those four runs were enough to get the win.

Fantastic pitching by Gausman

The big story of the game was Kevin Gausman who had one of the best games of his career. He pitched into the ninth inning and would have had his second complete game of his career. But, after a two-out walk and a bloop single, Buck Showalter played the odds and brought in Zach Britton to save the game. Britton did just that and added #56 to his consecutive saves-converted number. All Britton had to do was get one out, and he did just that.

Gausman pitched an absolute gem. His final line included seven hits, three walks, and eight strike outs. This start moved his ERA down to 5.37. He threw 118 pitches putting a nice close to his solid pitching in July. In his last three starts, Gausman has only given up one run after pitching in 20 innings.

Gausman couldn’t do it on his own. He had plenty of help from his defense. Especially from Adam Jones who robbed Joey Gallo of a home run in the bottom of the third inning. Check out the video courtesy of MLB:

The big offensive stories

The other big stories of the game belonged to Trey Mancini and Chris Davis. Oddly, Davis was walked three times. He was walked in the first inning after two outs and with Adam Jones on second after a lead-off double. Mark Trumbo stuck out to end that chance. Later, Davis walked in the third with one out and Jonathan Schoop on second. Two plays later he crossed home plate after Seth Smith singled.

At the top of the fifth, Davis was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning. Three batters later that inning was over.

Mancini likes Rangers’ pitching

Rookie Trey Mancini continued to show his value to the team. He earned his 16th home run of the game and scored the winning run. He also added two more RBIs, bringing his new total to 55. Not too bad for a kid who hits behind Trumbo.