The Orioles’ rotation has been ravaged by injuries this season. The starters who have stayed healthy have pitched dreadfully as a collective unit.
Baltimore welcomed back Kyle Gibson on April 29, hoping the 37-year-old could provide a spark to a pitching staff — and a team — that needed it. Instead, the night was more of the same.
Four of Gibson’s first 12 pitches were clubbed for home runs. He didn’t last beyond the fourth inning. The Yankees evened the series with a 15-3 demolition, dropping the Orioles to 11-18 on the year. The loss came nine days after Brandon Hyde’s team suffered a 24-2 defeat to the Reds.
“Just wasn’t a really good night in any facet,” Hyde said.
Gibson, who pitched for the Orioles in 2023, made the first start of his campaign against New York. He was signed to a one-year, $5.25 million contract after lasting a month into spring training in free agency.
At the time of Gibson’s signing, the Orioles were already dealing with an injury to Grayson Rodriguez. They’ve since seen Zach Eflin join him on the injured list. The starting staff cumulated a 5.62 ERA entering April 29, third worst in MLB and the worst in the American League.
Gibson’s offseason training was “a little abnormal” — more bullpen sessions in February and March than usual — but he said the work was enough to get his arsenal where it needed to be. But he gave up nine runs in 3.2 innings to add to Baltimore’s pitching woes.
“Physically felt good, so that’s kind of the frustrating thing — when you feel good physically [and] the results don’t show that,” Gibson said. “Obviously not how I wanted the first one to go.”
Trent Grisham clubbed Gibson’s second pitch onto Eutaw Street. Aaron Judge continued his career torment against Baltimore with a first-pitch dinger right after. Ben Rice followed with a third homer in as many batters.
Gibson looked in disbelief on the side of the mound as soon as Rice slugged the 0-1 pitch. He settled in for all of one batter before Cody Bellinger blasted the fourth homer of the inning that right fielder Ramón Laureano watched sail over his head.
The Yankees kept tattooing Gibson’s pitches. Back-to-back doubles scored New York’s fifth run of the opening inning, and Rice added a second homer for a 6-0 lead in the top of the second. The five home runs Gibson allowed was a career high. All of them came on a different pitch.
“Looks like he just left some balls in the middle-in part of the plate to left-handers,” Hyde said. “Tough time commanding the ball early.”
Baltimore’s starters had averaged an MLB-worst 1.63 home runs per nine innings ahead of Gibson’s outing. The mark jumped to 1.91.
Last year, the Orioles’ 1.13 HR/9 mark was tied for the third best in the American League. No starter ever allowed more than three homers in a game. The last Baltimore pitcher to allow five home runs in a start was Bruce Zimmermann on May 29, 2022.
Beyond Gibson’s long ball struggles, he also struggled to fool hitters. He only notched two strikeouts and only generated seven whiffs in 73 pitches. His changeup was the lone pitch type of his six that had an average exit velocity below 91 mph.
Veteran Charlie Morton, 41, was one of the four relievers who followed Gibson.
Morton’s offseason signing has proved disastrous for the Orioles. He entered the night with an ERA above 10.00 in six appearances (five starts), the lone non-start coming after an opener. He allowed one unearned run in a 2.1 relief innings in the different role against the Yankees but still has an ERA of 9.45.
Gibson and Morton represent what has been an underwhelming and lackluster Baltimore pitching staff this season. That stems from general manager Mike Elias’ decisions since the start of last year for his arms, letting four-time All-Star Corbin Burnes walk and signing three pitchers at least 35 years of age in Gibson, Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano.
The Orioles have suffered as a result. They’ve only won one series this year, have the second-worst run differential in MLB and hold the worst overall ERA. Despite that, there’s confidence in the clubhouse.
“The hard part to do now is to not sit here and think that you got to get it all back in 10 games,” Gibson said. “Good teams can have bad months; they can have really good ones, too. You look back and you look at the growth you can have. … Maybe this is what helps you fight through some of the dog days.”
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