'Lights-out' Gibson caps off dominant stretch from O's starters

BALTIMORE -- Kyle Gibson strolled from the mound to the dugout, adjusted his cap and gave a subtle wave to the crowd of Orioles fans awarding the right-hander with a standing ovation upon his departure in the seventh inning Saturday night.

All week, Baltimore’s rotation has put up zero after zero after zero on the scoreboard. On this damp, chilly night at Camden Yards, it was Gibson’s turn to keep the momentum going. And the 35-year-old did so with one of the best outings of his 11-year big league tenure.

Gibson struck out a career-high-tying 11 over 6 1/3 dominant innings in the Orioles’ 5-1 win vs. the Tigers, their fifth straight victory and their ninth in the past 11 games. The lone run Gibson allowed came on his 96th and final pitch of the night -- a sinker that Zach McKinstry jolted for a one-out solo home run in the seventh, only the second hit given up by Gibson.

That also marked the first run allowed by a Baltimore starter since Sunday, when Grayson Rodriguez gave up four in the first inning vs. the White Sox. He finished his outing with four scoreless frames, then Dean Kremer (6 2/3 innings at Washington on Tuesday), Kyle Bradish (six at Washington on Wednesday) and Tyler Wells (seven vs. Tigers on Friday) each delivered a sterling performance.

The 29 2/3-inning scoreless streak by Orioles starters was the longest for the club’s rotation since a 42-frame run from Sept. 26-Oct. 1, 1995. The O’s record (since 1954) is 54, set from Sept. 1-7, 1974.

“A good starting rotation adds a lot of consistency to a team,” said Gibson, who improved to 4-0 through five starts in his first season with Baltimore. “The goal for our rotation is get that fifth, sixth inning wrapped up, have a lead and let this nasty bullpen take over.”

Gibson encountered early trouble when Detroit loaded the bases with one out in the first via a single from Javier Báez and walks to Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter. Gibson escaped the jam, striking out Spencer Torkelson and getting McKinstry to line out to right field. Beginning with that punchout of Torkelson, Gibson retired 18 of the next 19 batters before allowing McKinstry’s homer.

It was the third time Gibson has notched 11 strikeouts, with the previous occurrences coming Aug. 16, 2022 (with the Phillies at Cincinnati) and May 8, 2019 (with the Twins at Toronto).

“Right now, I think I’m still working on trying to have more double-digit-strikeout games than zero-strikeout games, so if I can get a couple more double-digits under my belt to have more than goose eggs, that’d be great,” Gibson said. “I was joking with somebody -- there’s guys that do this every five days; I don’t know how much fun that must be for them, because that’s fun when you go out there and you feel unhittable most of the game.”

Much of the Tigers’ lineup had trouble even putting bat to ball against Gibson, who is typically a pitch-to-contact type of hurler. Of the 34 swings by Detroit hitters, 18 were whiffs. That 53-percent whiff rate was a career best for Gibson among outings in which he’s thrown at least 50 pitches.

Gibson mostly relied on his sinker, throwing it 30 times, the most of his six pitches. But his sweeper (eight whiffs on 12 swings) and his changeup (five whiffs on 10 swings) were the offerings giving the Tigers the most trouble.

“He was lights-out,” said catcher James McCann, who went deep to lead off the fourth for his first home run as an Oriole. “I had to face him enough in my career, and getting to catch him is a lot more fun. But again, I can’t say enough about just the way the game started to how he settled in and went into cruise control.

“First inning could have been real rough, and he found a way to get out of it.”

Earlier this month, a tough opening frame was more likely to lead to a short night for a Baltimore starter. Through 15 games, the O’s had a 6.72 rotation ERA, with only three starts of six or more innings during that span.

In the most recent turn through the rotation, Baltimore’s five starters have combined for a 1.45 ERA. Plus, the Orioles have allowed only two runs over their past 44 innings.

How does manager Brandon Hyde explain the turnaround?

“Just baseball,” Hyde said. “You’re going to have good moments and not-so-good moments, and good starts and not-so-good starts, and right now, we’ve been rolling off some really good starts.”