Game update and Gausman on his start (Orioles walk off 5-4)

ORIOLES QUICK WRAP

Score: Orioles 5, Dominican Republic 4

Recap: Kevin Gausman retired nine of 10 batters over three innings, walking José Bautista to lead off the second. ... Manny Machado grounded to third against Gausman and went 0-for-2 with a walk before coming out for a pinch-runner. ... Brad Brach walked four batters in the sixth inning and was charged with a second run on Zach Stewart's wild pitch. ... Logan Verrett tossed two scoreless innings. ... Sean Coyle scored go-ahead run with two outs in the eighth on an Audry Perez RBI single off Richard Rodriguez, who was lent to the Dominican Republic by the Orioles. ... Joe Gunkel came on for the save in the ninth, but gave up a leadoff walk, a Carlos Santana single and a Nelson Cruz RBI single before getting an out. The Dominican team scored the go-ahead run on an error by third baseman Johnny Giavotella. Gunkel then struck out Gregory Polanco and got Alberto Rosario to hit into a double play. ... Joey Rickard put down a sac bunt after Giavotella walked and David Washington singled, but a throwing error by Jefri Hernandez allowed Giavotella to score the tying run, Washington to reach third and Rickard to go to second. Then with Trey Mancini batting, Hernandez threw a walk-off wild pitch.

Need to know: Gausman struck out Cruz with a 96 mph fastball in the second. ... Seth Smith was 0-for-9 before his leadoff double in the first inning. ... Smith made a nice running catch in right field to haul in Welington Castillo's drive in the third. ... Castillo threw out pinch-runner Aneury Tavárez trying to steal second base to end the sixth ... Francisco Peña singled in the seventh while his father, Tony, managed the Dominican team.

On deck: Wednesday vs. Blue Jays in Sarasota, 1:05 p.m. on MASN

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SARASOTA, Fla. - Logan Verrett followed Kevin Gausman to the mound this afternoon and tossed two scoreless innings. José Bautista registered the first hit for the Dominican Republic with a single in the fourth.

Bautista also walked in the second and was the only Dominican player to reach base until José Reyes walked against Brad Brach with one out in the sixth. Reyes stole second base, Manny Machado walked and came out for a pinch-runner.

Machado went 0-for-2 with a walk. The wind knocked down his long fly ball to left-center field. Sounded like a home run off the bat.

Brach also walked Bautista to load the bases and Carlos Santana to force in a run and cut the Orioles' lead to 2-1. Zach Stewart inherited a bases-loaded, two-out mess, plus Nelson Cruz, and his wild pitch tied the game.

Cruz grounded to short to keep the score knotted at 2-2.

Gausman retired nine of 10 batters over three innings, retiring Machado on a grounder to third baseman Ryan Flaherty.

"Obviously, a really good lineup," he said. "Most important thing was I got Manny out. A changeup, got him out front on a changeup. But Flash stared him down a little bit. It's cool. We're all competitive. Once we're out there, it's about pitching and getting outs."

Machado would have held bragging rights with a hit.

"I probably would have heard it at least a couple of times throughout the season, but he's 0-for-2 off me right now, so I'm pretty happy," Gausman said, counting the intrasquad game.

"It's like facing an All-Star team. It really is, so you've got to be on top of your game. You've got to be able to throw strikes. Against a lineup like that, you can't throw too many strikes because if you just live in the zone against those guys, they're the best in the world and the best in the Dominican Republic.

"They're very good. From top to bottom, you've got guys who are All-Stars and guys who have been around a long time and also other young guys that are kind of established big leaguers, too."

Gausman couldn't allow himself to get too amped up. Settle the nerves and hold down an imposing lineup.

"It's kind of one thing I wanted to tell myself today, not to just get too crazy," he said. "During the season if I'm facing a team like that, it might be a little bit different. One, I'd be throwing my split, too. To get through that lineup for three innings without throwing probably my best secondary pitch is a good sign. And that's one of the things I wanted to work on today was throwing four-seam and two-seam changeups. And I got a ground ball on a sinker from (Robinson) Canó, so it's really about getting back into the game, making sure that your routine before the game is as season-like as it can be."

Gausman has reached the stage in his career when he can shelve his splitter and not worry about the results. It's done for precautionary reasons as well as to concentrate on his other pitches.

"I've actually done that the last couple of years," he said. "My split finger kind of gives me some finger problems, some blisters, so try to hold off throwing that until usually my last two outings of the spring. But it's just something I wanted to work on today was pitching without it."

The stands aren't full today, a curiosity considering the opponent. Not your typical travel roster. But it felt and sounded like a festive atmosphere to Gausman.

"You hear the music, both national anthems. I thought that was really cool," he said. "You almost feel like you're in the Dominican. I've never pitched there, but I could see they obviously have a huge following with fans.

"There's probably more Dominican fans here than Orioles fans. I've never heard a crowd get so happy when you walk somebody. They're excited to see their guys, and for them, just like Team USA, those guys are heroes down there. Kids down there grow up idolizing Canó and Cruz and guys like that, and now Manny's one of those guys, too. So yeah, definitely a little different."

Gausman has allowed one run and one hit over five innings in his two starts. Today's stats don't count, but they will be referenced.

"So far, good," he said. "Today to kind of nitpick I got ahead in some counts and ended up going full counts, so got deep in some counts and threw some bad pitches not where I wanted to, but kind of got away with it. But overall I tried to pound the strike zone and got a lot of groundball outs, so anytime you get that, it's usually a sign that things are headed in the right way."