O's game blog: Kyle Gibson faces his former team as series continues

ARLINGTON, Texas – After their four-pitcher one-hitter in the series opener here Monday night, the Orioles look for a series-clinching win tonight at Globe Life Field versus the Texas Rangers.

The Orioles (2-2) got solo homers from Gunnar Henderson and Jorge Mateo in Monday’s 2-0 win, in which four hurlers combined to need just 108 pitches in the first Baltimore one-hitter since a 4-1 win at the Chicago White Sox on June 24, 2022.

Right-hander Tyler Wells threw five no-hit innings on 47 pitches as the Orioles won their seventh straight game versus Texas, going back to last season. Baltimore starter Kyle Bradish took a liner off his right foot, suffered a contusion, and had to leave the game in last of the second inning after pitching 1 2/3.

Then the Baltimore bullpen, featuring Danny Coulombe, Wells and Félix Bautista went 7 1/3 scoreless without allowing a hit and Texas, which was 1-for-29 batting on the night, was 0-for-23 against the O’s bullpen, which had an ERA of 5.93 in the Boston series.

Last night marked the first time in Orioles history that the bullpen worked at least seven no-hit innings in a game. The previous record was six hitless innings, done twice: Sept. 8, 2011 against the Yankees and June 24, 2022 at the White Sox.

The Orioles recorded 15 shutouts in 2022, the fifth-most in the American League and tied for seventh-most in the majors. The 15 shutouts marked Baltimore’s most since the 1992 team had 16; the single-season franchise record is 21 shutouts in 1961. The Orioles had 11 total shutouts in 384 games from 2019-21.

With Wells pitching last night - he had been scheduled to start tonight - Opening Day starter Kyle Gibson (1-0, 7.20 ERA) will be moved up one day to pitch on normal rest tonight. In Boston he allowed four runs, six hits over five innings. 

Gibson pitched for Texas for parts of the 2020 and 2021 seasons. In fact, he was both the Opening Day starter for this club in '21 and represented the team as a member of the AL All-Star team. That year he went 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA for the Rangers, before they traded him to Philadelphia.

Left-hander Andrew Heaney (4-4, 3.10 ERA in 2022 with the Los Angeles Dodgers) makes his Texas debut tonight. Heaney spent time on the injured list last year, but threw 72 2/3 innings, allowing 60 hits and 1.087 WHIP. He posted a 2.4 walk rate and pretty strong 13.6 strikeout rate. Heaney's strikeout percentage was 35.5, and he produced a 44.3 whiff percentage on his slider. His strikeout rate ranked second in the majors to Atlanta rookie Spencer Strider (13.8) among pitchers who threw at least 70 innings.

Heaney was a Statcast darling with swings and misses, ranking in the top three percent of the big leagues last year in K rate, top four percent in whiff rate and chase rate and top eight percent in fastball spin rates.

He joins Jacob deGrom and Nathan Eovaldi as the third pitcher to debut in the new-look (and improved, so club officials believe) Texas rotation. The Rangers signed him as a free agent in December to a two-year deal worth $25 million.

In five career games versus the Orioles, Heaney is 1-2 with a 7.71 ERA over 21 innings. He has lost his last two games against Baltimore, both while pitching for the Los Angeles Angels during the 2021 season.

The Orioles have now won seven straight games against the Rangers dating back to July 4, 2022.  This marks Baltimore's longest winning streak against a single opponent since also winning seven in a row against Atlanta from June 16, 2012 to June 23, 2018, and their longest streak against an AL opponent since winning seven straight against Tampa Bay from April 27 to July 16, 2016. The last time the O's won eight straight games against a single opponent was against the Mariners from July 3 to Sept. 19, 2012. The O's went 6-0 against the Rangers last season.