Orioles pitcher Kevin Gausman has pitched out of the stretch upon entering his last two appearances despite not having runners on base, and it's a change he made after talking with bullpen coach Dom Chiti, masnsports.com reports.
"I've just been doing it because I talked to Dom about whatever you warm up doing, that's what you continue to do," Gausman said. "I've been coming in with guys on base, so I've been going out of the stretch. Throwing from the windup, my only time doing it before in the game was my warmups, so that's why I did it. Probably my last outing was the first time I did it. It's pretty comfortable, but I definitely need to keep doing it out of the windup just to be ready if I do start one day or if they need a spot starter. Just one of those things you can't just stop doing."
Gausman went two scoreless innings in his most recent appearance without giving up a run, making it his first scoreless appearance of the season.
"It was good," he said. "Obviously, I've given up some home runs in some bad situations, but other than that I feel like I've been pitching well, so to finally have the results to go with it was definitely nice."
Gausman indicated he's stretched out enough to transition to starter when needed.
"I think I still probably could," he said. "I would probably need one or two bullpens, and then maybe one extended start. But physically it's really not that big of a difference just because I started the whole spring and I've done it most of my career."
Gausman has posted a 6.75 ERA and 6:5 K:BB ratio in eight innings out of the bullpen.