Gibson
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Baseball Writer
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Baltimore Orioles score runs every which way, and that makes pitching against them quite a chore.
Kyle Gibson is thrilled to watch it from the dugout — even if that means longer waits in the dugout to return to the mound because of big innings.
Gunnar Henderson hit a two-run homer in the second and added an RBI single to back Gibson’s winning start, and Baltimore beat the Oakland Athletics 9-4 on Friday night.
“One thing that makes this lineup so dangerous is just how deep it is,” Gibson said. “And even guys on the bench when we bring guys in, a lot of the situations we’re not losing a whole lot.”
Gibson (12-7) struck out six and didn’t walk a batter, allowing four runs on nine hits over five innings coming off his first loss in seven starts. He’s one win from matching his career high done twice previously and last in 2019 with Minnesota.
The 35-year right-hander from Greenfield is tied for fifth in the majors in victories and tied for first in the American League with Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin and Toronto’s Chris Bassitt. Texas’s Max Scherzer also has 12 wins, but most of those came when he was in the starting rotation for the National League’s New York Mets.
Gibson is also tied for second in the majors in starts with 26.
The next scheduled start for the Greenfield-Central grad is Friday, at home, against the Colorado Rockies. Kyle Freeland is the scheduled starter for Colorado.
