– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ARLINGTON, Texas — As far as preparation was concerned, everything leading up to Kyle Gibson’s start for the Baltimore Orioles seemed utterly routine. Everything else surrounding Gibson in the pitching rotation was a shrine to chaos, however, even in this early point in the season.
Acquired in the offseason to be a stabilizing force to Baltimore’s starting rotation, Gibson restored order for the Orioles in a dominant start on Tuesday.
After volunteering to move his scheduled start up a day, Gibson cruised while throwing seven innings and allowing just six hits as the Orioles defeated the Texas Rangers 7-2 inside of Globe Life Field. Ryan Mountcastle smacked a three-run home run as part of a five-run second inning for Baltimore, while Jorge Mateo followed up with a two-run homer one inning later.
Gibson’s scheduled start this week was supposed to be on Wednesday, but those plans were throw into disorder when Monday’s starter, Kyle Bradish, left the game in the second inning after taking a line drive off his right foot and left the game in the second inning. Bradish was relieved by Danny Coulombe, who went 1 1/3 innings before handing the ball over to Tyler Wells, Tuesday’s scheduled starter who volunteered to come in to ease the burden off an already-taxed Orioles bullpen that had thrown 13 2/3 innings in the season-opening series in Boston. Wells was brilliant, throwing five scoreless innings and only allowed a baserunner on a fielding error by Mateo at shortstop in the fifth.
Gibson followed in Wells’ shoes the following day, needing only 88 pitches to get through seven innings. His only runs allowed were on solo home runs by Adolis Garcîa in the second inning and Nathaniel Lowe in the sixth.
Baltimore’s offense continues to be hot, scoring at least five runs in four of its five games this season, as the home runs from Mountcastle and Mateo were part of two-hit nights for each. Mountcastle’s two-out dinger went the opposite way off of Rangers starter Andrew Heaney, with the ball striking off the right field foul pole to give the Orioles all the runs they would need. Mateo’s home run, to left-center field, was the second round-tripper in as many days for the shortstop, who is now batting .357.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Tuesday evening’s game, with all photos taken by Dallas-area photographer Ross James. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are XX pictures in total.
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