Baltimore Orioles Score a Triple-Double and Hat-trick

May 13, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher

Miguel Gonzalez

(50) throws a pitch in the second inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Many fans of the Baltimore Orioles were distracted away from baseball on Wednesday evening by the playoffs for the nearest NHL and NBA franchises – the Capitals and Wizards. Sadly for those fans, each Washington team lost by one, while the Orioles put together an all-around good game in a 6-1 victory over the Blue Jays.

Usually a “triple-double” and “hat-trick” are terms applied to basketball and hockey, but we’ll use them to speak of the outburst of the O’s in the second inning that catapulted the Orioles to a series-clinching victory. Three consecutive doubles provided all the offense that Miguel Gonzalez would need while providing 7.2 innings of three-hit pitching.

Caleb Joseph knocked in the first two Orioles runs with a line drive double past Josh Donaldson – gotta love that! He was then driven home by Manny Machado’s double, who in turn scored on a third double by Alejandro De Aza.

Another sight to love was seeing Jose Bautista rolling a weak grounder to his least-favorite opponent, Darren O’Day, on the first pitch of relief from the O’s submariner. O’Day would register his first save of the year by also shutting down the Jays in the ninth inning.

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But the best sight for the baseball eyes of Orioles fans was the good overall defensive effort of the entire team. De Aza made a great running catch in the right-field corner. Rey Navarro jumped high to snare a line drive, and Manny Machado made a diving tag on a grounder to pick a runner off third base – a critical moment of the game.

But the critical player of the game was Miguel Gonzalez, who at one point set down 14 straight Jays hitters (helped by the defense) and registered five clean innings.

After seven starts, Gonzalez is now 4-2 with a 2.93 ERA and WHIP of 1.14. He has a goal of pitching 200 innings for this season, and he has 43 in the books so far. The year is now exactly one-fifth over, though it not likely that Gonzalez would get 35 starts – more like 30 is probable if he stays healthy. Assuming that, he is on pace right now to therefore pitch 185 innings.

As we have compared the season start of some other Orioles players (like Adam Jones) relative to other seasons at the same point, let’s do the same for Gonzalez. Here is what his first seven games (as a starting pitcher) over the past four years look like when put together (recalling that the games in 2012 began in the middle of the season) …

Year	Innings	Record	ERA	WHIP
2012	43.2	4-2	3.71	1.31
2013	42.1	2-2	4.25	1.35
2014	37.2	1-3	4.78	1.54
2015	43	4-2	2.93	1.14

So Gonzalez is off to a good start, as these stats illustrate from previous years that he has tended to get better as the season goes along.

You gotta love Gonzo and his work ethic. He is truly a pitcher, not just a thrower. And he has developed more late life on his pitches over his time with the Orioles.

More good news for the Birds is that he will have two more seasons before becoming eligible to be a free agent.

The Angels come to town on Friday night with Jared Weaver pitching against Wei-Yin Chen. Weaver is only 1-4 with a 4.98 ERA. Chen is 1-1, with a 2.52.

Next: A look at new rookie Mike Wright

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