With 1-day notice, Gibson pitches 7-inning gem

ARLINGTON -- Think about the troublesome spot the Orioles were in early Monday night at Globe Life Field.

They were coming off a tough season-opening series loss in Boston that featured a dropped fly ball negatively shifting the momentum of the weekend. The first three starters combined for 12 innings, taxing the bullpen before the team went to Texas. Then Kyle Bradish took a 104 mph liner off his right foot and exited the series opener in the second inning.

Baltimore had to put together a new pitching plan on the fly and weather adversity less than four games into its 2023 season. And not only has it survived, but it has thrived in these first two games against Texas.

After Tyler Wells came to the rescue with five hitless innings of relief in Monday’s win, Kyle Gibson tossed seven dominant frames to help lead the O’s to a 7-2 win over the Rangers on Tuesday. Once Wells, who was originally scheduled to start Tuesday, volunteered to come out of the bullpen in the opener, Gibson’s outing was bumped up from Wednesday to a day earlier.

“We went to Kyle a couple times, during [Monday’s] game as well as after the game, just to make sure that if we decided to do this that he’d be 100 percent in on pitching today, and he was,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “I’m lucky that I have such great guys, honestly, and such team-first pros on this club that are willing to do things for the team.”

It isn’t surprising Gibson was on board. Baltimore signed the 35-year-old right-hander to a one-year, $10 million deal this offseason, partially so he could be a staff leader and a positive influence in a mostly young clubhouse. Everybody in the O’s organization, from players to coaches, has raved about how he’s already been that since the early weeks of Spring Training.

Gibson, a team-first guy, didn’t hesitate when Hyde asked for his thoughts on the revised plans.

“That’s a no-brainer, right?” Gibson said.

Because Gibson started Opening Day last Thursday and Baltimore had an off-day last Friday, he was pitching on regular rest. He also didn’t need to modify his between-starts routine, as he had already thrown a side session at Fenway Park on Sunday.

On Tuesday, Gibson took a familiar mound at Globe Life Field -- his home ballpark during the 2020 season and the first half of ‘21. He had plenty of success here, too, posting a 3.33 ERA in 16 starts in Arlington over that span.

Gibson cruised against his former team, needing only 88 pitches to navigate his seven innings. The only two runs he allowed came on a pair of solo homers by Adolis García (in the second) and Nathaniel Lowe (in the sixth).

In the seventh, Gibson capped his outing by striking out the side, fanning Josh Jung, Robbie Grossman and Mitch Garver in order, all swinging. Gibson’s fastball was still sitting around 93 mph by that point, and his heater maxed out on the night at 95.1 -- his second-fastest pitch since the start of 2022 (per Statcast), behind only a 95.4 mph sinker he threw for the Phillies last Sept. 25.

Gibson attributed the uptick in velocity to his work in Sunday’s side session in which he threw about 25 pitches, all from the windup, and tinkered with his delivery.

“It’s always good to see things that you work on in the bullpen translate to the mound, and I think tonight was like that,” Gibson said. “I don’t know if I’ll be 94, 95 every time out of the top, but I guess it is nice to know at 35 you still got that in the tank every now and then.”

It was an all-around impressive performance, and as Hyde pointed out, it was another type of start the Orioles needed as their rotation begins to build momentum.

“That was the best sinker I’ve seen him throw this year, including Spring Training. That was a power sinker,” Hyde said. “He had a really good slider and changeup. He just pitched, both sides of the plate, kept them off-balance, got ground balls, pitch count was low. It was just a great job of pitching, and that’s back-to-back nights of really well-done pitching by us.”