Gausman gets chance to end on good note

Right-hander endured turbulence of inconsistent season

ST. PETERSURG, FLA. – Listening to Kevin Gausman dissect his 2017 season, it’s clear that the Orioles right-hander has pored over his numbers trying to pinpoint anything that can explain this year’s inconsistency.

When Gausman looks at his body of work, one thing stands out — that he will go into his last start of the year in Sunday’s season finale with the same number of innings he had at the end of 2016 (1792⁄3), but it’s taken him three more starts to reach that mark.

“That kind of goes to show you what the problem is, with not going deep into games,” Gausman said.

Gausman, 26, expressed his frustration with this season after his penultimate start Tuesday at the Pittsburgh Pirates, who shelled him for six runs in four innings. One of the reasons he will receive one more start in Sunday’s meaningless finale