Kyle Gibson's starts have typically gone one of two ways this season. Either the right-hander has been absolutely brilliant, or he's been rather brutal.
That's why Saturday's start against Baltimore was a bit of an oddity for Gibson. While he allowed just one run, he didn't pitch very deep into the Twins' 3-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles. Gibson gave up just four hits, but he only lasted five innings.
Though he allowed just the lone run, Gibson did have to labor through five innings. The patient Orioles made Gibson throw 96 pitches in Saturday's outing.
"It was positive. The game was tied when he left the ballgame," said Twin manager Ron Gardenhire. "He wanted to go back out there. This late in the season, (96) pitches, he had to work for it. They made him work. One of the things he said when he came out of the game, for a team that is known as a bunch of swingers over there, they sure took a lot of pitches."
The only run Gibson allowed Saturday came in the bottom of the fourth inning. With nobody out, Gibson served up a ground-rule double to Jimmy Paredes, which allowed Chris Davis to score. If the ball didn't hop the fence in left-center field, the damage could have been worse. J.J. Hardy was held at third base because of the ground-rule double, and Gibson was able to pitch out of trouble to get out of the fourth inning with just the one run on the board.
Gibson went just one more inning and he exited with the game tied at 1 after Oswaldo Arcia's sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth knotted things. Saturday's outing went against the trend that Gibson had set throughout the year. Typically, when he lasts five innings or less, the end result isn't good. In his last two starts, he lasted 5 1/3 and 4 2/3 innings and allowed five runs in each game.
"He did a nice job," Gardenhire said. "He made some big pitches when he had to against some very good hitters."
FOX Sports North's Kevin Gorg contributed to this report.
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