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  • Kevin Gausman won’t be eating doughnuts during his MLB debut, but he still has his superstitions

    Kevin Gausman, who was the No. 4 overall pick in the 2012 MLB draft, makes his debut Thursday for the Baltimore Orioles. Scouts and prospect watchers will tell you he's special because of his dancing mid-90s fastball and his baffling changeup. Other people will tell you he's special because of his superstitions.

    Gausman, 22, is perhaps best known for his doughnut fetish. In college at LSU, he developed a routine of eating small powdered doughnuts during games. He'd eat one mini doughnut before his first pitch, and four between each inning. So if he threw, say, a complete game, that would be 33 mini doughnuts. (Aroldis Chapman approves of this pastry-pounding).

    Orioles star Adam Jones even gave Gausman 1,700 mini doughnuts in February, which is 425 innings worth — and 97,750 total calories.

    So you're probably asking yourself, "how many doughnuts will Kevin Gausman eat in first MLB game?" The answer, actually, is zero. The Baltimore Sun reports that Gausman gave up the doughnut tradition on advice of nutritionists.

    He still does some other odd stuff, per the Sun's article:

    “I put on one sock and go get something to drink. Then I put on the other sock, take it off, and go get something to drink. Then I put it back on. Then I put on the other one and go get something to drink.”

    He also leaps over the foul line when running out to the mound. And his first warm-up pitch every inning in the minors was a rocket thrown from the back of the mound after he did a little crow-hop over the pitching rubber.

    It'll be interesting to see if Gausman develops any new superstitions in the big leagues. Or if the added pressures make him regress to his doughnut-chomping ways.

    If not, Aroldis "Chompman" Chapman would like to know if anybody's going to eat those 1,700 mini donuts.

    UPDATE: Despite Gausman changing his doughnut habit he was still welcomed to the big leagues with what appears to be at least 40 boxes of powdered doughnuts. He posted this on Instagram:


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  • The Juice: Chris Davis’ league-leading 14th home run helps Orioles take rubber match from Yankees

    The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

    Chris Davis’ hot-hitting season continued with four more hits, including his American League leading 14th home run, as the Orioles locked up an important division series with a 6-3 win over the New York Yankees. Davis’ two-run blast in the first inning capped a three-run rally against Hiroki Kuroda. Nick Markakis also homered in the inning. Matt Wieters later added a three-run homer that proved to be the difference.

    All important hits in a big game, but it was Davis who kept the line moving with productive at-bat after productive at-bat. And as he noted after the game, the series was of utmost importance to the Orioles. And not just because it was their biggest competition within the division. David Ginsburg of the Associated Press tells us more:

    In the opener Monday night, Baltimore closer Jim Johnson blew a ninth-inning lead and Baltimore absorbed its sixth straight loss. The Orioles rebounded to win in 10 innings on Tuesday night before coasting in the finale.

    ''Anytime a division rival comes in, you want to try to win the series especially when you're at home,'' Davis said. ''We avoided the snowball effect to some degree and were able to get back on track.''

    The Yankees have also avoided the snowball effect this season despite numerous injuries. They added another on Wednesday night as Kuroda was forced to leave in the third inning after being struck on the calf by a Manny Machado line drive. At this time it's not believed to be a serious concern, but one could understand if Yankees fans held their breath a few hours longer.

    Zack Cozart solves Matt Harvey: I think that officially makes Zack Cozart a baseball genius. Sure, a player here or a player there has put together a solid offensive game against Mets phenom Matt Harvey, but nothing nearly as complete as Cozart's four hit effort. Among the hits were two singles and two doubles. He also scored twice, but the game itself wasn't decided until the bullpens got involved. In the ninth, it was Cincinnati who broke through for three runs against Bobby Parnell to take home the 7-4 victory.

    Another day, yet another walk...: Hold on, not so far there, San Francisco. Despite another late inning Giants rally to tie a game at home, the Washington Nationals emerged with the 2-1 victory thanks to Ian Desmond's tenth inning RBI single.

    Shocking first for Jose Bautista: Would you believe — you probably won't — that Jose Bautista never had a walk-off hit going into Wednesday? It's true, or at least it was, because he changed history with a tenth inning single. It was also Bautista who sent the game to extra innings with a solo home run off Fernando Rodney leading off the ninth. Oh, and he homered in the fourth, stole a base, singled again, and walked for good measure. Not a bad series for most.

    MORE SCORES

    Dodgers 9, Brewers 2: Manager Don Mattingly got exactly what he wanted out of his lineup.

    Braves 8, Twins 3: The legend of Evan Gattis grows — both good and unusual.

    Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 1: Colorado, Arizona and San Francisco sit atop the NL West at 26-21.

    Rangers 3, A's 1: 30-year-old Ross Wolf earns his first major league win with five outstanding innings.

    Tigers 11, Indians 7: Justin Verlander's struggles continued, but his offense (and Michael Bourn) picked him up.

    Angels 7, Mariners 1: Four straight wins for the Halos, though beating up on Seattle is pretty much everyone's gimmick these days.

    Phillies 3, Marlins 0: Three-hit shutout hurled by Cliff Lee.

    Red Sox 6, White Sox 2: Another " would you believe?" moment: David Ortiz stole third base.

    Astros 3, Royals 1: James Shields could really use a couple more runs. That's all he asks.

    Cardinals 5, Padres 3: Yadier Molina joined the four-hit parade.

    ''What was it, one walk, nine punchouts and two hits? Man, that's clean stuff.''

    — Pirates manager Clint Hurdle on Francisco Liriano's dominant outing. Liriano, along with Tony Watson and Mark Melancon, shutout the Cubs, 1-0.


    • Miguel Cabrera has 50 RBI in 44 games. That's the fewest games for a Tigers player to reach 50 RBI since Hank Greenberg in 1937.

    • Evan Gattis' grand slam traveled 344 feet. According to ESPN Stats, that's the shortest grand slam in MLB since May 16, 2009 when Jason Kubel hit one 341 feet off Mariano Rivera.

    • According to Elias, the Mat Latos (4-0) vs. Matt Harvey (5-0) matchup was the third game in MLB history featuring two undefeated starters nine or more starts into season. They both earned no decisions.

    Looking for more baseball chatter?
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