Some firsts for Gausman (Markakis and Jones go back-to-back)

Kevin Gausman's first major league pitch tonight was a 96 mph fastball that Toronto's Melky Cabrera took for a ball. His first strike came on the next pitch, a 95 mph heater. The first hit that he allowed was Cabrera's single up the middle on a 98 mph fastball. The first out came against the next batter, Jose Bautista, who flied to center on an 84 mph changeup. The first strikeout came against the next batter, Edwin Encarnacion, on a 97 mph fastball. Adam Lind struck out on an 85 mph changeup, with catcher Matt Wieters squeezing the foul tip for the final out. Welcome to The Show. With his parents and girlfriend sitting behind the Orioles' dugout, Gausman recorded his third strikeout to end the second inning on a 97 mph fastball to Emilio Bonifacio. Two innings, no runs, two hits, three strikeouts. He threw 36 pitches, 25 for strikes. Gausman issued his first walk, to Bautista, with two outs in the third after inducing ground balls from Munenori Kawasaki and Cabrera. One pitch to Bautista was clocked at 99 mph. Encarnacion flied out on a 96 mph fastball to end the third. He's thrown 51 pitches, 33 for strikes. Manny Machado has doubled twice, giving him a major league-leading 20 on the season. The second one scored two runs and gave Gausman his first lead, 2-0, in the top of the third inning. Machado has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 road games, going 29-for-67 (.433). He's recorded 20 multi-hit games this season. Is that good? The Orioles are 23-13 when Machado has at least one hit, according to STATS. The Orioles executed a double steal with Chris Dickerson and Nate McLouth before Machado's two-run double. McLouth is 15-for-16 in stolen base attempts this season. Chris Davis increased the lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth with a home run off the foul pole in right and the facing of the second deck, his major league-leading 15th to go with 44 RBIs. The Orioles have hit 18 homers in their last 10 games. Update: Gausman experienced more firsts in the fourth. The first run off him came on back-to-back doubles by Lind and J.P. Arencibia to begin the inning. The first bases-loaded jam followed after Brett Lawrie's bunt single and Colby Rasmus' walk. And Gausman received his first mound visit from pitching coach Rick Adair. The Blue Jays scored again on Bonifacio's sacrifice fly, reducing the Orioles' lead to 3-2, but Gausman avoided further damage. His pitch count is up to 72 through four innings. Update II: Gausman gave up the lead and is done after five innings. Gausman allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings, with two walks, five strikeouts and his first home run. He threw 89 pitches, 58 for strikes, and his fastball topped at 99 mph. Arencibia hit a two-out, two-run homer in the fifth to give Toronto a 4-3 lead. In my opinion, Gausman got away from his fastball. Keep bringing the heat. Gausman certainly showed why the organization and scouts think so highly of him. Now, let's see if he can build on this outing. Down on the farm, Jair Jurrjens has allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings at Triple-A Norfolk, with one walk, three strikeouts and a home run. First baseman Travis Ishikawa left the game with an undisclosed injury. Update III: Troy Patton and Pedro Strop combined to allow four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Toronto an 8-3 lead. Patton issued two walks and both runners scored on Encarnacion's grand slam off Strop, who again is struggling with his command and losing composure on the mound. Bad pitches and body language. Strop threw 18 pitches, only eight for strikes. Strop has allowed four runs and three hits, with two walks, in his last two appearances covering one inning. Patton has been charged with five runs in his last three games and 3 2/3 innings. The Orioles got a run back in the top of the seventh on Alexi Casilla's sacrifice fly that scored J.J. Hardy, who led off with a double. Update IV: Strop walked Lawrie leading off the bottom of the seventh and was removed for T.J. McFarland. Add another free pass to his stat line. Strop threw 22 pitches, only eight for strikes. Update V: Nick Markakis and Adam Jones hit back-to-back homers in the eighth to reduce the Blue Jays' lead to 8-6 and knock Brandon Morrow out of the game. Markakis extended his hitting streak to eight games. He's 12-for-35 with two homers in that stretch. This is the third time that the Orioles have hit back-to-back home runs this season.