Gausman not "as crisp" as previous starts this spring (O's win 6-4)

ORIOLES QUICK WRAP

Score: Orioles 6, Phillies 4

Recap: Kevin Gausman allowed two runs (one earned) and three hits in three innings, with one walk and three strikeouts. ... The Orioles didn't have a hit off Jeremy Hellickson until two outs in the third inning, when Caleb Joseph delivered his second home run and RBI of the spring. ... Joey Rickard hit a three-run homer off Hellickson in the fourth after Mark Trumbo's RBI single. ... J.J. Hardy struck out looking, walked and scored, and bounced to third. ... Brad Brach struck out the side in the sixth. ... Jesus Liranzo didn't allow a run in his first five appearances, but Nick Williams led off the eighth with a home run.

Need to know: Joseph came out of the game after being hit near his left elbow in the seventh. ... Joseph dropped Hardy's throw to the plate in the first that allowed Chris Coghlan to score. Left fielder Aneury Tavárez dropped Michael Saunders' fly ball in foul territory later in the inning. ... Hellickson picked off Trumbo in the second after a leadoff walk. ... Hellickson struck out the side in the first. ... Second baseman Johnny Giavotella made a diving stop to his left, bobbled the ball and threw to first to rob J.P. Crawford in the third inning after third baseman Ryan Flaherty dived to his right and threw out Jesmuel Valentin to end the second inning.

On deck: Tuesday vs. Rays in Sarasota, 1:05 p.m.

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SARASOTA, Fla. - Hyun Soo Kim lined a two-out RBI single into center field today in the fifth inning to increase the Orioles' lead to 6-3.

Rule 5 pick Aneury Tavárez walked and stole second base before scoring on Kim's single.

Brad Brach struck out the side in the sixth inning. Since his four-walk performance against the Dominican Republic, he's retired all six batters faced with four strikeouts.

J.J. Hardy struck out looking, walked, bounced out and scored a run before Paul Janish replaced him at shortstop in the sixth inning.

Kevin Gausman felt good today, the most positive development in his outing against the Phillies, when he allowed two runs (one earned) in three innings.

"I wasn't as crisp as I had been this spring," he said. "The most upsetting thing is walking a guy (Chris Coghlan) on four pitches to start an inning. Any time you do that, you'd rather a guy get a hit, kind of do something to get on base. But with that being said, my off-speed was really good today, slider is definitely taking steps at being better and more consistent. That was probably my best pitch today. It's good to get those reactions against hitters.

"Biggest thing today was my fastball command wasn't what it has been this spring."

Gausman exceeded 60 pitches over three innings, prohibiting him from coming back out for the fourth.

"I tried to do some things a little different than I might during the regular season," he said. "Got a guy two strikes, tried to work on some things, throwing backfoot sliders to lefties, really a pitch that I don't use very often. But with throwing a slider now, it's one I wanted to work on today.

"Going into that many deep counts, I went to a full count on just about everybody today, it seemed like. Any time you throw that many pitches in three innings, you're not going to be happy. You just try to minimize damage.

"Leading off the game with a double kind of puts you into what it's going to be like during the regular season in certain situations. Definitely, I thought it was a good day, though."

Gausman is the leading candidate to start opening day while Chris Tillman goes on the disabled list. The thought crosses his mind and then he blocks it out.

"A little bit, but as I've said before, I can't really control what's going to happen, especially with Buck (Showalter)," Tillman said. "You never know. Try not to be upset about anything that may happen. Just try to stay even keel."

Tillman's inclusion on the disabled list already was a certainty, but now he won't be ready on April 15.

"Obviously, we wish that he was going to be starting opening day and coming out of the gate healthy, but he's kind of done his part around here lately, so it will be good to give him a break essentially and hopefully he comes back and feels even better that he did before," Gausman said.

"If he's able to do what he's done the last couple of years ... I don't know if he's had that issue before, but he's been able to do it in the past not feeling 100 percent and then to get him back healthy is one of the keys for us. It sucks, but we've got a lot of good arms in this camp and a lot of young guys, a lot of guys who are kind of in limbo right now as to whether they're going to be a starter with us or a long guy with us. We have a lot of guys who can kind of fill the void and it helps us a little bit that we don't need a fifth starter until I think the middle of April.

"It's a good thing, but obviously we're hoping to have him back sooner rather than later."