Daily Reporter staff and wire reports
MINNEAPOLIS — Kyle Gibson kept on rolling Tuesday night, as he secured his third straight victory, leading the Minnesota Twins to an 8-3 win against the Baltimore Orioles.
The Greenfield-Central graduate got off to a rocky start but ultimately cruised through six innings, with the only major blip coming in the fifth when he allowed a two-run home run to O’s shortstop J.J. Hardy.
Gibson (7-6), above .500 for the first time since the end of May, allowed only six hits Tuesday and kept his ERA at a sterling 3.04, good for 13th in the American League.
Gibson demonstrated his poise Tuesday night by masterfully maneuvering through a jam in the opening frame before settling down.
Baltimore all-stars Manny Machado and Adam Jones singled and doubled, respectively, to put runners on second and third with one out before Gibson struck out Chris Davis and Matt Wieters to end the first. Gibson wound up with seven punchouts, one off a season high, and has allowed two runs or fewer in each of his past four turns.
“All these are learning experiences and definitely a good feeling when you can go out there and execute a couple of pitches when you don’t feel your best and have the defense make great plays behind you,” Gibson said. “Getting out of the first inning was big, and I think the offense took that momentum and went on to score three really quickly, so it was good.”
Later in the game, Gibson also benefited from a little home-field advantage that helped him pull off the rare strikeout, 1-3 putout against Jones to end the third inning. Gibson’s strikeout pitch got behind catcher Kurt Suzuki but bounced off the limestone backstop back to the field of play, where Gibson alertly picked up the ball and threw to first base for the putout.
Providing support for Gibson in the win was heralded rookie Miguel Sano, who demonstrated his power in hitting his first major-league homer and then showed some patience at the plate by later drawing a bases-loaded walk.
“Every win right now is big,” Gibson told MLB.com. “We want to finish this All-Star break pretty strong. So to get this series win out of the way and give ourselves a chance to win all three is big. So we’re going to come out tomorrow and try to jump on them early again and try to get the third win.”
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The Minnesota Twins’ Kyle Gibson pitched 6.0 innings Tuesday, surrendering two runs against the Baltimore Orioles. The Greenfield-Central graduate’s pitching line against the Orioles as well as for the season:
GM/YR;IP;H;R;ER;BB;SO;HR;ERA;W-L
Tuesday;6.0;6;2;2;1;7;1;3.00;1-0
Season;106.2;98;39;36;34;72;11;3.04;7-6
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