BLUEJAYS6, ORIOLES5:
Victim of poor run support this season gives up 3 HRs in 1st, lasts just 3 innings
Starter Kevin Gausman gives up three home runs in the first inning, but the O’s battle back, only to come up a run short. It was the Orioles’ fourth loss in a row, and it left them atop the AL East by only half a game over Toronto.
TORONTO — Kevin Gausman has seen his share of tough luck as a victim of poor run support all season, but before he took the mound against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night, the Orioles offense had spotted him a two-run lead.
Against a Toronto team on the Orioles’ heels, Gausman gave the lead right back — and then some— in a 6-5 loss to the Blue Jays in which he lasted just three innings, matching his shortest start of the season. TheOrioles’ lead over the Blue Jays is a mere half-game in the American League East.
“It’s frustrating,” Gausman said. “This is obviously a big series for us right now, so for meto go out there and not even be competitive was bad.”
Gausman never found his footing, allowing three home runs in the first inning. It was the latest incident of early-inning hiccups for Gausman, who has allowed eight of his 19 homers in the first this season and has a 5.50 ERA in the opening inning.
“Just elevated a lot of pitches and made a lot of mistakes with his breaking ball,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Made some good pitches, but not enough of them against a good-hitting team. … A lot of good pitchers [struggle early]. You’d like it to be perfect every time out; it’s not. A lot of times he’s able to find his step after the first inning.”
Gausman (2-8) saw his early cushion disappear quickly. On his second pitch of the night, he hung a curveball that Blue Jays right fielder Jose Bautista drove into the left-field seats.
After a loud flyout to center by Josh Donaldson, designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion crushed a belt-high 94-mph fastball into the second deck in left. Two batters later, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki jumped on another loopy curveball, depositing a third souvenir into the left-field seats.
All three homers off Gausman were
400-foot blasts.
“You saw it in the first inning. They have a lot of power and have guys who are known throughout the league for hitting home runs,” Gausman said. “So, if you don’t have your ‘A’ game, they are going to let you know. From pitch one to pitch 80 — [I got pulled] after the third inning, which is ridiculous — I was just all over the place. I had no feel for anything. I felt bad for [catcher Matt] Wieters. I was kind of beating him up back there [with wild pitches].”
Gausman said he struggled to get a feel for his curveball — Bautista and Tulowitzki made him pay — and had difficulty finding anything positive about the outing.
“Fastball command was terrible,” Gausman said. “I threw some good splits when I had to and that was really the only reason I got through three innings. ... I guess you just go back to the drawing board, try to forget this and go on to the next one.”
Over the course of the season, Gausman, 25, has pitched much better than his 2-8 record indicates. He had four quality starts in his five outings coming into Friday, posting a 2.51 ERA over that stretch, including seven scoreless frames in his previous start last Saturday against the Cleveland Indians. Gausman received an average of just 3.50 runs of support over his first 17 starts, lowest among Orioles starters.
Gausman never found a rhythm after the first inning. He issued leadoff walks in the second and third. Despite a wild pitch, was able to strand a runner at third base in the second inning. But Wieters’ throwing error on Michael Saunders’ infield single in the third put runners at second and third with no outs.
After both runners came in to score — the first on Tulowitzki’s groundout and the second on a single by Russell Martin — a second wild pitch put Martin into scoring position, and he scored on Kevin Pillar’s two-out single.
By the fourth inning, Showalter had seen enough, pulling Gausman for long man Vance Worley after his starter allowed six runs on six hits and three walks.
“We get two runs in the top of the first against Estrada, and in this ballpark he’s a very good pitcher,” Gausman said. “So, for us to get two and for me to give three right back is just kind of deflating. Even when we got one in the top of the third, I came back out and gave up another three. It’s obviously very frustrating.”
The Orioles are 7-11 this season in games Gausman has started.
His two shortest starts this season have come on the road against division opponents. He lasted just three innings in a 6-4 loss to the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on June 15. Despite posting five quality starts in nine outings against AL East competition, Gausman is just 1-5 with a 4.01 ERA against division opponents this season. He is 0-7 with a 5.62 ERA in 11 road starts overall.
Until Friday’s disaster, Gausman had been a key part of the revitalized rotation. Unlike in past games, the offense gave Gausman some early run support, but that quickly disappeared with the three home runs.
But what was more disconcerting was how unsettled Gausman was from there. The leadoff walks hurt him, as did the wild pitches, little things that led to one of his least memorable outings of the season.
“I think the big thing was just the consistency with the breaking ball,” Wieters said. “He had a little trouble with it today, and his fastball location wasn’t quite what it normally is. It’s something that we’re constantly working on. We’re going to get that breaking ball where it needs to get, and he knows he’s going to have to throw it in pressure situations. He’ll learn from this, and this will help him moving forward.
“That’s what you have to take it as,” Wieters said of treating the outing as a learning process. “If you don’t learn anything in a loss, there’s really no good in a loss. So, hopefully we can learn something from this and move forward. I know he will and I know we will.”