Schoop and Walker hit three-run homers, Gausman on outing (O's roll 9-3)

SARASOTA, Fla. - Jonathan Schoop hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning today and J.J. Hardy put the Orioles ahead with a RBI ground rule double in the sixth.

Refusing to be left out, Christian Walker came off the bench and hit a three-run homer in the seventh to increase the lead to 7-3 and raise more questions about whether he's forcing his way onto this roster.

Walker leads the Orioles with three home runs and 11 RBIs. Hardy went 2-for-3 today and is 8-for-21 with a double and triple this spring. Schoop has eight RBIs to rank second behind Walker.

Another run scored in the seventh on L.J. Hoes' single that followed Steve Tolleson's double. The reserves are making some noise this afternoon.

Dylan Bundy retired six of seven batters, blowing a 95 mph fastball past Andrew McCutchen to end the fifth. T.J. McFarland retired the side in order in the seventh.

Hyun Soo Kim had two hits, including another infield single, and is 5-for-34 this spring.

Kevin Gausman faltered in the fourth, but he was pleased to get 58 pitches under his belt over four innings.

"I felt really good," he said. "This is my second game, really. I felt good to get through four innings. That was my end goal. Even my last inning, I gave up a couple of runs but I only did it in 17 pitches.

"That's a goal of mine is to let the inning just kind of completely get away from you. You're going to give up runs, but if you can minimize your pitches in every inning, you're still going to go deep in the game and kind of give your team a chance to win, so I felt good about that."

The rotation has been a major concern for the Orioles, but Gausman has twice gotten through the first inning without permitting a run. He believes that better times are ahead for the group.

"I would say so," he said. "It's definitely a process. Early on, a lot of guys are kind of fine-tuning mechanics, just trying to find everything. It's a little bit different in spring training. It's a different schedule, different everything, so it takes a little bit to get used to it, but I know we're all excited to get the regular season started and get the ball every fifth day."

Gausman served up a long two-run homer to Andrew McCutchen, the ball landing somewhere beyond the left field seats.

"It was just a breaking ball. Hung it," he said.

"I threw him all fastballs first at-bat and was really trying to get ahead right there. Should have thrown more of an out breaking ball, but I wanted to throw a strike. He's a pretty good player. He doesn't miss those pitches. That's probably the worst breaking ball I threw all day. It just goes to show you.

"I'm more mad about walking (Francisco) Cervelli than giving up the home run. Andrew McCutchen is going to get his hits and get his home runs, but if you can minimize solo home runs, it's a completely different story than two-run homers."

Pirates starter Juan Nicasio struck out 10 Orioles in four innings.

"He looked pretty good," Gausman said. "He looked like he was throwing a lot of stuff up there. Got a lot of looking strikeouts. That's one of those things I feel like he's a guy who's obviously throwing hard right now and throwing all of his pitches for strikes. If he can do that in spring, you can have a really good spring. Our lineup is a very tough lineup and that doesn't happen very often."