Solid yet not spectacular: Miguel Gonzalez leads the O's in quality starts

He doesn't dominate. He doesn't strike out a lot of hitters. He doesn't have a blazing fastball and he certainly doesn't get much attention.

But Miguel Gonzalez gave the Orioles yet another solid and workmanlike effort Sunday and picked up another win for the orange and black.

I keep contending that Gonzalez is an underrated pitcher, but find that many readers here don't agree with me. When the topic of potential rotation reinforcements comes up, Gonzalez is often suggested as the pitcher that is most likely to lose his rotation spot.

He is 3-3 this year with an ERA of 4.35. Certainly, nothing jumps out at you about those numbers. But Gonzalez's ERA is a run less at 3.35 since he gave up seven runs in his first 2014 start.

In some ways, Sunday was a typical Gonzalez start. He gave up a few runs. He walked a few. The radar gun readings didn't attract any attention. He pitched just one 1-2-3 inning. But when the game was over, he had given up just four hits and two runs over six innings against a team that had been 5-1 in its previous six games against the Tigers and Orioles.

In 52 career starts as an Oriole, Gonzalez is 23-15 with an ERA of 3.76 and the club is 31-21 (.596). Yep, they have won nearly 60 percent of his career starts.

In 28 career starts against the American League East, he is 12-7 with a 3.53 ERA and 18 quality starts. I would think that record within the division would curry more favor for Gonzalez, but it doesn't seem to.

Guess which pitcher leads the 2014 Orioles in both quality starts and quality start percentage?

20 percent - Ubaldo Jimenez (2/10)
33.3 percent - Bud Norris and Wei-Yin Chen (3/9)
40 percent - Chris Tillman (4/10)
55.5 percent - Miguel Gonzalez (5/9)

When you consider that the Orioles are 13-4 in their 17 quality starts this season, getting one seems to be important. No one has done that better this season than Gonzalez.

Five days from now, Gonzalez will take the mound again. He won't throw any pitches that wow anyone and won't get much attention. But once again he'll probably keep his team in the game and provide an outing to put his team in line for a win.