Baltimore Orioles: What happened to 2016 Kevin Gausman?
By Nate Wardle
The Baltimore Orioles came away with a thrilling come-from-behind victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night after Kevin Gausman left trailing 4-1 in the seventh inning.
There is a lot to discuss the day after an exciting Baltimore Orioles win, especially in walk-off fashion.
You can talk about Jonathan Schoop‘s two home runs, and how is becoming a star.
You can talk about Mark Trumbo‘s penchant for walking off games, a feat he leads the majors in this season.
You can talk about Adam Jones‘ heads up baserunning to take second base and be in a position to score the winning run in the 10th inning.
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But, I want to focus on something that is a continued issue for the Orioles. The lack of attention by Kevin Gausman.
I watched the first inning. Gausman was pretty good. Sure, both Adam Frazier and Josh Harrison hit the ball fairly deep, but both were easily catchable. Then, Gregory Polanco went down swinging in a six-pitch at-bat. Gausman threw 13 pitches in the inning.
I’ll admit, I had to go to a meeting and left after Seth Smith‘s solo home run, so I didn’t see the second inning.
But, in the second inning, Gausman threw 33 pitches. Sure, the first hit was a ground ball up the middle and a second a weak grounder to third that Manny Machado made a throwing error on (runner would have been safe anyways). Andrew McCutchen then had a RBI single to right field, a ball not hard hit. But then John Jaso doubled to the gap.
Gausman would get the next batter, Francisco Cervelli to ground out, but then Jordy Mercer grounded into a fielder’s choice, making it 3-1. Gausman then got Adam Frazier to strike out.
Three runs and 33 pitches later, Gausman allowed two more hits until the seventh inning, when the wheels came off, although the Pirates didn’t score in the inning. One of those hits was a solo home run.
The bigger issue is that this is not a one-time issue.