Even in his best starts — and Saturday's qualifies — veteran right-hander Yovani Gallardo, the main offseason addition to the Orioles pitching staff, seems to be doing a tight-rope act that's best described as dangerously effective.
If he gets through the first few innings unscathed, as he did despite three walks in the first two innings Saturday in the Orioles' 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels, it's usually smooth sailing for him — until it's not.
As has been the case several times this year, things got away from Gallardo quickly when they got away from him. Gallardo was fortunate to get a stellar throw and tag from center fielder Adam Jones and second baseman Jonathan Schoop on a wall-ball single by Angels catcher Jett Bandy for the second out of the fifth inning. That was followed up by a ball that left fielder Hyun Soo Kim kept from being extra-bases off the bat of second baseman Johnny Giavotella, limiting him to a single.
Gallardo got out unscathed before the top of the sixth brought singles by outfielders Kole Calhoun and Mike Trout, a walk to designated hitter Albert Pujols and a two-run single by left fielder Daniel Nava to erase the slim lead the Orioles gave him.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter said he, too, asked himself why Gallardo stayed in for that last batter when he had been squared up so often.
"If we'd had a left-handed pitcher down there, I would have gotten him a little earlier, but we don't," Showalter said. "Mychal [Givens] is not good against those guys, and I also thought Yovani … deserved a chance there, and we didn't have a lot of options."
Givens ended up getting a flyout and a double play after a walk to leave the bases loaded, but Gallardo left him a mess. Gallardo pitched into the sixth inning four times, and has given up five runs after the fifthinning.
He's not the most efficient pitcher, walking four Saturday to give him 23 to just 30 strikeouts this season, but said his pitch count doesn't impact how he's feeling.
"It's not an issue to be honest," Gallardo said. "I've been feeling good. I still feel strong. Once I get up to that pitch count, velocity is just the same. It's a matter of just overthrowing. Once I get to that situation, I try to overthrow, put a little more behind the ball and I don't need to. I've got to worry about location and mixing those pitches.
"Early in the count, I was getting ground balls. It was weak contact and anytime you overthrow a little bit, the ball is going to come out over the plate. That's what's going to happen."
Still, Saturday's quick appearance of mortal trouble for Gallardo isn't new. The only time the Orioles sent him out for the seventh inning this season, on April 16 in Texas, he walked the No. 9 hitter and allowed a double, then was pulled. The Orioles' two-run lead soon evaporated and the Orioles lost, 8-4. Even in last week's start in San Diego that he won, Gallardo cruised through five innings before allowing a three-run home run to Brett Wallace in the sixth, though the game was well in hand.
Opponents are now hitting .333 (12-for-36) with three walks in 39 plate appearances in their third time seeing Gallardo, with nine of the 26 runs he has allowed coming in that time through the batting order.
Under normal circumstances, Gallardo giving the Orioles five solid innings then being pulled before he gets in such trouble might be a reasonable return for a veteran pitcher in his circumstances.
Until then, Showalter will have to go into those tense middle innings with Gallardo knowing the trigger to pull him might need to be a little quicker.
NOTE: Right-hander Cody Sedlock, the Orioles' 2016 first-round draft pick, made his pro debut with Short-A Aberdeen on Saturday night, allowing one hit while striking out four and walking one in three scoreless innings. He threw 42 pitches, 27 for strikes.