At this stage of his career, you get a little bit of everything with Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman. In his 3-1 win against the Toronto Blue Jays June 27, the good news and bad news came on the same pitch -- his last of the game.
The good news was Gausman was throwing harder on his 97th pitch of the game (96 mph) than he was at the start, when he topped out at 95 mph. The problem was his final pitches came with one out in the sixth inning.
The effort left Gausman two outs shy of qualifying for the bogus statistic of a "quality start," but nevertheless was instrumental in a win, which is still the most important statistic even if downplayed in the analytic era we live in. But there is still a missing link, not only for Gausman, but also for the Orioles -- and to a certain degree the baseball industry as well.
