masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgPORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – The Orioles gladly will accept having closer Zach Britton replace starter Kevin Gausman in games this season. Just not in the fourth inning.
Gausman threw 75 pitches today in 3 2/3 innings, 41 for strikes, before exiting with the score tied 2-2. One run was unearned after Chris Dickerson’s dropped fly ball in the third.
Gausman allowed two hits, walked four batters, struck out five and threw two wild pitches. It wasn’t the type of outing he wanted to carry into opening…

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – The Orioles gladly will accept having closer Zach Britton replace starter Kevin Gausman in games this season. Just not in the fourth inning.

Gausman threw 75 pitches today in 3 2/3 innings, 41 for strikes, before exiting with the score tied 2-2. One run was unearned after Chris Dickerson’s dropped fly ball in the third.

gausman-tongue-out-side.jpgGausman allowed two hits, walked four batters, struck out five and threw two wild pitches. It wasn’t the type of outing he wanted to carry into opening day, but he’ll take the increase in his pitch count and get ready for the Blue Jays on Monday.

Manager Buck Showalter popped out of the dugout after Gausman retired the first two batters in the fourth on only three pitches. He wanted Britton to work multiple innings today.

Hyun Soo Kim and Dickerson homered in the fourth inning to tie the score. It was Kim’s first homer of the spring and he didn’t get cheated, putting an Alex Colomé pitch onto the boardwalk in right-center field.

Dickerson has three home runs, this one a shot to right field.

Gausman threw 22 pitches in the first inning, 17 in the second and 33 in the third. Dickerson dropped Evan Longoria’s fly ball with one out and nobody on base in the third, and the Rays scored twice to take a 2-0 lead.

Corey Dickerson followed the error with an RBI single, Rickie Weeks walked and Steven Souza Jr. delivered an RBI single. Gausman threw his second wild pitch, but a strikeout/caught stealing got him back in the dugout.

Gausman walked four batters to go with those two wild pitches within the first three innings. He issued back-to-back walks to Longoria and Dickerson in the first and he walked Nick Franklin with two outs in the second.

The Orioles weren’t crisp, to say the least. Shortstop J.J. Hardy also committed an error in the second, letting a line drive from Jesús Sucre glance off his glove.

Britton allowed a single to Peter Bourjos in the fourth before retiring Derek Norris on a grounder to third baseman Ryan Flaherty.

Gausman has made six starts this spring, including the exhibition against the Dominican Republic and a Triple-A game against the Rays, and logged 22 innings. He allowed six earned runs (eight total), walked eight and struck out 22.