– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — Unfortunately for Kyle Gibson, he did not keep in tact the remarkable streak the Baltimore Orioles starting rotation had sustained during an excellent week for the ball club. So, for his efforts on Saturday night, Gibson’s start will be downgraded from a solid A to an A-minus as almost every aspect involving the Orioles continues to pass with flying colors.
Gibson gave up only one run and two hits while striking out a career-high 11 batters in his 6 1/3 innings of work, helping to lead the Orioles to a 5-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on an overcast Saturday evening. Ramón Urías hit a bases-clearing double as part of a four-run third inning for Baltimore, winners of five straight and nine of its last 11.
Those runs were more than enough for Gibson, who put up a zero in each of the first six innings he pitched, and eventually extended the scoreless streak from Orioles starters to an astounding 29 2/3 innings. Dean Kremer went 6 2/3 scoreless innings at Washington on Tuesday, which was followed by Kyle Bradish’s six innings of scoreless ball at Washington on Wednesday and Tyler Wells’ seven scoreless to begin this series against the Tigers last night. The streak started when Grayson Rodriguez ended his outing last Sunday with four scoreless innings after allowing four runs in the first inning in Chicago against the White Sox.
“A good starting rotation adds a lot of consistency to a team,” said Gibson, who became the first Orioles pitcher to start 4-0 through five starts in a season since 2012. “The goal for our rotation is get that fifth, sixth inning wrapped up, have a lead and let this nasty bullpen take over.”
The scoreless streak was under immediate threat in the first inning, when the Tigers loaded the bases with just one out after a Javier Báez single and walks to Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter. Gibson record the first of his 11 strikeouts by fanning Spencer Torkelson before getting Zach McKinstry to line out to right to end the inning.
The final two outs of the first were the first two of 11 consecutive batters retired by Gibson, who did not allow another hit in the game until McKinstry’s one-out solo home run in the seventh inning cut Baltimore’s lead to 5-1. McKinstry’s blast was the last batter Gibson faced, as the latter received a standing ovation from the Camden Yards faithful after the fourth consecutive quality start from an Orioles starter.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday evening’s contest, with all photos taken by DC-area photographer Elliott Brown. 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 30 pictures in total.
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