Baltimore Orioles Hammer Former Teammate In Series Opener

Kevin Gausman no longer pitches for the Baltimore Orioles, but he probably wishes he still did after Monday's beatdown.

Gausman, who's now with the Toronto Blue Jays, faced his former team on Monday in the first game of a four-game series between the two AL East rivals at Rogers Centre. It did not go well for Gausman, who endured one of his worst outings of the season at the hands of his old squad.

The 33-year-old righty simply didn't have it, getting shelled for six runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. He only tallied three strikeouts and surrendered three home runs (a season-high) as Baltimore cruised to a 7-2 victory behind Grayson Rodriguez (6.2 IP, 1 ER).

The Orioles are all over Kevin Gausman tonight pic.twitter.com/2Xif0ELJeM
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) June 4, 2024

The trouble started early for Gausman, who yielded a two-run homer to Anthony Santander in the top of the second for the first runs of the game. He later made a pair of costly mistakes to the ice-cold Austin Hays, serving up a two-run blast in the fourth and a solo shot in the seventh to the slumping slugger.

The six earned runs matched a season-high for Gausman, who suffered his first loss since April 23 and watched his ERA balloon to 4.60. He'd only given up two home runs over his previous nine starts combined and was coming off three straight quality starts.

Gausman has struggled against the Orioles since they traded him away in 2018. He's now 1-4 with a 5.35 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP in six career starts against Baltimore.

The two-time All-Star started his career with the Orioles, who took him fourth overall in the 2012 Draft out of LSU. He made his MLB debut the following season and remained with Baltimore until he was traded to the Atlanta Braves midway through the 2018 campaign.

Gausman has bounced around since then despite becoming one of the best pitchers in baseball, pitching for the Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants as well before landing with the Blue Jays on a five-year, $110 million deal prior to the 2022 season. He's rewarded Toronto with two-plus seasons of ace-level production, except when he pitches against the Orioles.

Baltimore has now won nine of its last 11 games despite recently kicking off its brutal June schedule. The Orioles will look to stay hot on Tuesday behind their ace, Corbin Burnes, who looks like an early contender for the AL Cy Young award with his 5-2 record, 2.35 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 72 2/3 innings.