Kyle Gibson on Saturday wasn’t the pitcher the Orioles paid $10 million for this offseason.
He was much more than that.
Gibson, an 11-year veteran with a reputation as a pitch-to-contact innings-eater, struck out 11 batters to tie his career high in the Orioles’ 5-1 win over the Detroit Tigers. The 35-year-old right-hander allowed just two hits and one run in 6 1/3 innings to continue Baltimore’s streak of stupendous outings from its starters.
“He was lights-out,” catcher James McCann said. “I’ve had to face him enough in my career, getting to catch [him] is a lot more fun.”
The start is easily Gibson’s best as an Oriole. The only run he allowed was a home run with one out in the seventh. His 6 1/3 innings before the solo homer extended the scoreless streak by Orioles starters to 30, and the quality start was the club’s fourth straight, joining Dean Kremer, Kyle Bradish and Tyler Wells. The Orioles have allowed just two runs in their past four games.
The win is the Orioles’ fifth straight and ninth in their past 11 games. Ramón Urías led Baltimore (13-7) offensively with a bases-clearing double in the third inning that provided three of the Orioles’ five runs.
In his 265 starts before Saturday, Gibson (4-0) had struck out 11 batters just twice — August 2022 and May 2019. He totaled three, five, four and one in his previous four starts — striking out only two fewer batters Saturday than in his first 23 2/3 innings combined.
“Right now, I think I’m still working on trying to have more double-digit strikeout games than zero strikeout games,” quipped Gibson, who now has six starts with 10 or more strikeouts versus seven with zero. “If I can get a couple more double-digits under my belt to have more than goose eggs, that would be great.
“There’s guys that do this every five days, and I don’t know how much fun that must be for them. It’s fun when you go out there and you feel unhittable for most of the game.”
Tigers hitters swung at 34 of Gibson’s 96 pitches and missed at 18 for an eye-popping 53% whiff rate. Gibson’s previous best whiff rate in a start was 49%, and his career mark was 24.1%.
Eight of his whiffs came on his sweeper, and he got five more on his changeup. Those two offspeed pitches, plus his pinpoint sinker command after the first inning, allowed Gibson to dice up Detroit’s lineup.
“He’s got things that are going in both directions,” McCann said. “So as a hitter, you can hunt a middle-middle, and one’s gonna run in on you, and one’s gonna break away from you. That’s what he did tonight. When he’s locating like that, you gotta tip your cap because his stuff is moving so much.”
The beginning of Gibson’s start didn’t look pretty, though.
At one point, he walked two straight batters and tossed eight consecutive balls. The Tigers had the bases loaded with one out, but Gibson struck out Spencer Torkelson and got Zach McKinstry, who later homered off Gibson, to line out to right fielder Anthony Santander.
“For me, the slider and the changeup were really good tonight, and it was amazing to be able to go into the seventh after how the game started for him,” Hyde said. “That was fun to watch him pitch like a professional, where he’s really mixing speeds well and changeup was strike-to-ball and the slider was really good.”
Gibson then mowed down the Tigers, retiring 11 straight and 17 of 18. The sharp outing continued the recent trend among Orioles starters. The scoreless streak, which included the bullpen and extended to 34 innings before being broken in Friday’s 2-1 win, started Sunday with Grayson Rodriguez, who pitched four scoreless after a bad first inning. Dean Kremer then pitched 6 2/3 scoreless Tuesday, Kyle Bradish followed with six clean frames Wednesday and Tyler Wells kept it going Friday with seven run-free innings.
“I think a good starting rotation adds a lot of consistency to a team,” Gibson said. “That’s really the job of the starting rotation is make sure these offensive guys know that we have a chance to win every single day.”
Yennier Cano relieved Gibson and remained perfect since being called up last weekend, retiring all five batters he faced with three strikeouts. Cano has pitched six perfect innings with seven strikeouts so far this season. Left-hander Danny Coulombe shut the door in the ninth with a scoreless inning.
Urías clears bases before ejection
Urías was ejected by home plate umpire Vic Carapazza after striking out looking in the fifth inning. Urías tossed his bat and helmet after disagreeing with the call and was quickly tossed. The ejection is the Orioles’ third this season and second of a player, as Cedric Mullins and manager Brandon Hyde were tossed April 11.
The ejection was the first of Urías’ career.
“That bummed me out,” Hyde said of Urías’ ejection. “He got an equipment violation and then, I don’t know, said something. I don’t really know. Has Ramón ever been thrown out before? He doesn’t show a whole lot of emotion normally. Pretty surprising.”
Two innings earlier, though, Urías hit a three-RBI double off the right field wall for the biggest hit of the night.
The third baseman lined a fastball from Joey Wentz 103.9 mph to score Adley Rutschman, Ryan Mountcastle and Santander and give Baltimore a 4-0 lead.
“That did not bum me out. That pumped me up,” Hyde said. “That’s where he lives, balls out over the plate, and he’s got so much power and hits the ball so hard to the opposite side of the field. It’s great to see him get into one. Ramón gets big hits for us, and that was one we needed tonight.”
The double was the fourth consecutive two-out hit or walk by the Orioles. The first of that stretch was a two-strike broken-bat single from Rutschman that flared over the head of shortstop Javier Báez to score Gunnar Henderson, who singled to lead off the third and extend his on-base streak in starts to 12.
Mountcastle and Santander both had six-pitch plate appearances, with Mountcastle hitting a single to center field and Santander walking to set up Urías.
The Orioles’ final run was a solo homer from McCann in the fourth inning. McCann, who played for the Tigers from 2014-18, clobbered a Wentz fastball 107 mph into Baltimore’s bullpen over the left-center field fence for his first blast as an Oriole and his first chug of the homer hose.
“It’s fun to watch,” McCann said of the team’s home run celebration. “It’s even more fun to be the one that gets to take in the homer hose.”
Around the horn
- Jorge Mateo was originally scheduled to start at shortstop, but he was replaced by Gunnar Henderson before the game because of the wet conditions, manager Brandon Hyde said. Mateo was removed from Wednesday’s game in the second inning with right hip discomfort, and he didn’t play in Friday’s walk-off win.
- Reliever Dillon Tate (right forearm strain) will begin his minor league rehabilitation assignment Tuesday with High-A Aberdeen, and veteran right-hander Mychal Givens (left knee inflammation) will start his later in the week.
Tigers at Orioles
Sunday, 1:35 p.m.
TV: MASN2
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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