MINNEAPOLIS -- Kyle Gibson's first full season in the major leagues has been hard to describe.
At times, the 26-year-old right-hander was brilliant, particularly at home at Target Field. Then there were outings in which he struggled to make it past two innings as he looked like an entirely different pitcher.
Tuesday's outing against Arizona fell into the first category during Gibson's penultimate start of 2014. He allowed just one run in seven innings, striking out eight and failing to walk a batter in the Twins' 6-3 win. His sinker was sharp against the Diamondbacks lineup, which scored its lone run against him in the fourth inning.
The win brought Gibson's record to 13-11 this season, while his ERA improved to 4.50. In a year of mixed results for Gibson, he's hoping his last two outings -- against Arizona on Tuesday and Detroit in the season finale Sunday -- can help springboard him into the winter and beyond.
"It's been some ups and downs, for sure," Gibson said of his 2014 campaign. "You guys have seen it. But I definitely want to finish on a good note and have a good taste in my mouth going into the offseason."
Minnesota didn't really know what it had in Gibson after seeing him make just 10 big-league starts last year, his first season in the majors. He entered spring training fighting for -- and winning -- a job in the starting rotation. Gibson's first month of 2014 was a microcosm of his entire season: a few strong outings mixed in with a few clunkers.
The same was true for the month of May, in which he was 1-2 with a 4.00 ERA in five starts. It appeared Gibson turned a corner in June, going 3-2 with a 3.16 ERA in six outings that month. That included three straight starts in which he didn't allow a run in seven innings of work.
Then came July, August, and now September, when Gibson's numbers got progressively worse each month. Earlier this month against Cleveland, Gibson lasted just three innings and gave up seven runs. In his other two September starts prior to Tuesday he surrendered four runs on seven hits.
Then Gibson once again reminded the Twins of the potential he has by putting together a solid outing against a struggling Diamondbacks team. The eight strikeouts matched his season high, and it was just the fourth time in 30 starts this year that he didn't issue a walk.
"He gave us a great opportunity to win," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "I thought he had a powerful sinker, and he had a really nice slider going and a decent changeup. It was just about staying in command out there and in control. He did a really nice job. A great performance like that leads to wins."
Much has been said this year about the Twins' starting rotation, which ranks dead last in the majors in ERA. On a starting staff that has lacked consistency, Gibson has been one of the team's better starting pitchers. His 13 wins are second only to Phil Hughes' 15, and his 172 innings also rank second behind Hughes.
Minnesota will have plenty of areas to address next spring, first and foremost being the rotation. Given the year he's had in 2014, it would be safe to argue that Gibson will likely have a good shot to open 2015 in the rotation, too.
When asked if he felt he had a spot in the rotation next year, Gibson downplayed the notion.
"It's probably too early to tell about that. I need to go into the offseason just assuming that I don't," he said. "I've got to work hard this offseason and come into spring training and battle for a spot again. I don't think that hurt my chances to be in the rotation next year, but I could have thrown a lot better and definitely helped my chances to be put in the rotation right away.
"It's always a game where you never know who they're going to go sign. There's a lot of young guys coming up who are pretty good. For me to assume that going into next year that I've got a spot would only be doing myself a disservice."
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