“We are one of those juggernauts” – Twin Cities

There were moments early in Kyle Gibson’s career that he looks back on and realizes he was too hard on himself and didn’t enjoy the thrills of life in the major leagues enough.

But this season with the Orioles, “I’m trying not to have any of those times,” the veteran right-hander said Thursday after giving Baltimore a scoreless seven innings in their 3-1 win over the New York Yankees.

The Orioles won their fourth consecutive series against American League East opponents and clinched sets from every other team in the division to complete a feat they hadn’t had since 2016. Coupled with two wins from three games on their last visit here last season, the Orioles have won a straight series at Yankee Stadium for the first time since 2014.

“I think we’re one of the best teams,” Gibson said. “We are one of those juggernauts.

“I can’t even describe how much fun it is.”

Gibson has played and pitched well against each of the four other teams in the AL East. Thursday’s performance gave him a 2.52 ERA as he averaged more than six innings per division start. He opened and finished Baltimore’s 5-1 seven-inning road trip, keeping the Toronto Blue Jays and Yankees together in one run.

He signed a $10 million deal this offseason to provide a stabilizing presence in Baltimore’s rotation and has delivered that and more. Thursday’s outing lowered his overall ERA to 3.82, making him the first Baltimore pitcher to pitch at least seven scoreless innings against New York since Kevin Gausman in 2016.

“It was a masterful performance,” said manager Brandon Hyde. “He has great intangibles and experienced leadership and our guys really rely on him because he’s had great experience and been on winning teams. He showed tonight what a player and pitcher he is. A lot of the guys look up to him and he was great.”

After a win over Toronto, the Orioles (33-17) suffered their only loss of the road trip in the opening game of the series, losing a game in which they had led 4-0 in the fourth and 5-4 in the ninth. But they fought for the series victory with an eight-run seventh inning on Wednesday ahead of Gibson’s dominance on Thursday.

He allowed a single in the middle on his first pitch, then no more hits until the seventh, although he managed about four walks. His sinker-sweeper combination proved effective; After Gleyber Torres’ leadoff single in the first run, the next nine balls in the game became outs with his sinker, missing four of the five swings against his sweeping slider.

Gibson’s last pitch, his 96th, resulted in a 3-6-1 doubleplay, with Gibson running excitedly from first base to Baltimore’s third base dugout before a retest gave him a break. The reputation initially endured, completing Gibson’s strong performance. He commended shortstop Jorge Mateo for being willing to throw first to pick out latter rather than settle for power at second base.

“Any time you can capitalize on plays like that and get out of an inning, you’re going to see a little bit of the emotion and it all comes out,” Gibson said. “It was a big square right there.”

To open the top of the eighth, Anthony Santander, who had been the only run of the game up to that point with an RBI single in the fifth, walked to base for the fourth time. A batsman later, Gunnar Henderson also drew a free pass; He saw 26 pitches in the rookie’s four plate appearances on Thursday. Austin Hays drove them both home with a two-run double just inches from the right field wall.

With closer Félix Bautista unavailable after his pitching in the first two games of the series, Mike Baumann pulled off a perfect eight with two strikeouts, his fastball hitting 99 mph in an out Hyde described as “fantastic.” , before Yennier Cano managed ninth. It started with a walk by reigning AL Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge, the first cano he’d given in 25 2/3 innings this season, and Willie Calhoun doubled it with two outs to thwart the shutout before rookie Anthony Volpe made a lineout to center ended the game.

“I think we just showed a strong team,” said Hyde. “Also the way we won, neither of them was an easy win. To be honest, I’m really proud of our club because these are two really difficult places to play against two excellent teams and we just played well in so many areas.”

Victory was the Orioles’ May 14, securing them a record of at least .500 in a month that faced a massive schedule. After the opening game in May against the Kansas City Royals, Baltimore had three straight streaks against top-ranked teams Divisions in the Atlanta Braves, the Rays, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, losing two one-run games to Atlanta but winning the other two series. They clinched three out of four games against the Los Angeles Angels, who may have baseball’s two top stars in Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani, before embarking on that road trip against two AL East opponents who reached the postseason last year and were looking for a return compete.

Every team in the division has a track record.

“It’s AL Beast again this year,” Hays said. “In any series you play in the AL East, it’s a dogfight.”

And as Hyde said after Wednesday’s comeback, the Orioles are “bulldogs.” They won Thursday from a deficit on the mound.

“I try to have fun, win, lose or tie,” Gibson said. “We just won a lot, so it’s a little bit more fun.”

All around the horn

• Orioles midfielder Cedric Mullins was not included in Thursday’s line-up for “personal reasons”, Hyde said. Hyde said it would “probably” be a one-day absence for Mullins, who has featured in all of Baltimore’s first 49 games.
• Infielder Ramón Urías, who is on the 10-day injury list with a left hamstring strain, continued his rehabilitation task with a second game for High-A Aberdeen. After going 0-2 as the designated hitter with three walks on Wednesday, Urías played on third base and went 4-1.
• Ahead of the game, Hyde said the Orioles were still deciding next steps with substitute Dillon Tate, whose 30-day rehab stint ended Wednesday. The club are likely to either remove Tate from the injury list, where he spent the season after suffering a right elbow flexor strain in the off-season, or select him for the youth team. Tate, who has two minor league options remaining, had a 14.04 ERA in 10 rehab games.

Rangers at Orioles

Friday, 7:05 p.m

TV: MASN2, MLB network

Radio: 97.9FM, 101.5FM, 1090AM

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