Baltimore Orioles: Kevin Gausman Battles an Old Teammate

Sep 14, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher Kevin Gausman (39) pitches during the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

Baltimore Orioles starter Kevin Gausman was in a pitching battle Monday night against a former minor league teammate in the Boston Red Sox’ Eduardo Rodriguez. We recall that Rodriguez was the player traded last year in order to have Andrew Miller for the final two months of the 2014 season.

On this occasion, surely not the last they will face each other, it was Gausman coming away with the win as the O’s prevailed over the Sox 2-0.

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Rodriguez and Gausman would have been in close proximity in the Orioles farm system from 2012-2014. They shared some time together in Bowie in 2013.

It is no surprise that Eduardo Rodriguez can pitch. He came into Monday’s game with the O’s with a 9-5 record and 4.05 ERA. The earned run average is not that impressive really. But understand that of 47 earned runs allowed, 30 of them came in just four of his 18 starts. The other 14 starts were outstanding, factoring to an ERA of 1.71.

And the Orioles on Monday night saw the Rodriguez that pitched the 14 good games. He gave up only one run in 5.1 innings, along with three walks and nine strikeouts. The only fault to be found is that he did not go deep enough into the game for the Red Sox, but that can be the fallout of so many K’s and BB’s. There were some long at-bats as well, like a 10-pitch battle with Chris Davis — won by Rodriguez.

For Gausman, the way to win the game was to be flawless; and he was flawless enough — allowing no runs in six innings of two-hit ball. He did walk four and strike out seven.

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It is not like this is new territory for Gausman. The MASN broadcast included an amazing statistic. A graphic showed how Gausman has this season had the worst run support of any Orioles pitcher since 1969. And it wasn’t even close to the next guy. I believe the number was in the 2.3 per game range, so it is actually going to go down, even after this win.

With the win, the Orioles SOAR into third place—two games ahead of the Sox and a game ahead of the Rays who were beaten by the Yankees 4-1.  Isn’t that exciting?!?

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