Baltimore's introduction to Yovani Gallardo revealed a pitcher who has become more of a tactician than a flamethrower, more concerned with giving every pitch purpose than getting caught up in flash.

Gallardo earned the win in his Orioles debut — a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday — by mixing pitches and speeds, relying on his slider early to complement a high-80s fastball and adding in a curveball and changeup.

He held the Twins to one run on two hits, striking out four and walking three. He went just five innings, pulled after 89 pitches. Take away Byron Buxton's two doubles, and the rest of the lineup was 0-for-15 with three walks against Gallardo.

Gallardo, who signed six days into spring training workouts, is still a work in progress. He entered the season with just 13 spring innings under his belt, and while he showed he can flip the switch when the season starts, the Orioles know there's much more.

“I think he's getting there,” said Orioles manager Buck Showalter, who wanted to cap Gallardo at 90 pitches after he threw 70 in his final spring start. “He's a guy who's going to add and subtract. He's a guy who's kind of evolved and knows who he is and who he isn't, a guy who keeps you in the ballgame and gives you a chance to win it if you catch it and score some runs.”

When the Orioles signed the 30-year-old to a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $22?million, they needed him to add stability to the rotation. Since then, it has taken on a much different look. Kevin Gausman is on the disabled list. Mike Wright is the No. 4 starter. Miguel Gonzalez is gone.

Over the past seven seasons, Gallardo averaged six innings per start (6.01 innings over 223 starts), which shows a track record of deep starts. That's what the Orioles need.

Despite a 10.38 ERA in four Grapefruit League starts, he tempered concerns with five scoreless innings in his final spring outing. Gallardo and Showalter were confident the results would be there when it mattered, especially given the right-hander's recent history of poor springs before solid regular seasons.

And while Gallardo isn't the strikeout pitcher he used to be — he averaged 204 strikeouts per season from 2009 to 2012 — he has still been productive. The mid-90s fastball has given way to an array of breaking balls and off-speed pitches. He has evolved into a contact pitcher, which plays well in front of a solid Orioles defense.

“Honestly, I don't think about velocity at all,” Gallardo said. “The most important thing that I've always thought about is locating your pitches. That was and still is my No. 1 priority. Changing speeds, I think you can go ask any hitter, I think that's the hardest thing. If you're mixing a big difference between your fastball and your off-speed pitches, it's tough, but I pitch to contact. ... I'm going to go out there and keep doing it. I feel confident with the numbers I've put up throughout my career, and it's not going to change.”

On Wednesday, he battled to find his put-away pitch, which was the main reason for his early exit. Still, he limited the damage, as the Twins' only run off Gallardo came when No. 9 batter Buxton's leadoff double in the third inning was followed by two sacrifices.

Not only did Gallardo rely on his slider early in the game to get ahead in counts, he also used it as his put-away pitch. Three of his four strikeouts came off the slider and not his fastball, which peaked at 89 mph on the stadium radar gun. Gallardo's fastball averaged 90.5 mph last season.

The Twins are a team stubborn in at-bats. One only needs to look back to August, when Minnesota came to Camden Yards and swept four games from the Orioles — sending them on their second-half slide — with pesky at-bats and dink hits.

Despite issuing all three walks in his first three innings, Gallardo had thrown just 49 pitches. But the second time through the batting order, the Twins managed to lengthen at-bats.

With one out in the fourth inning, Gallardo needed 10 pitches to strike out Twins designated hitter Byung Ho Park. Gallardo got ahead 0-2, but Park fouled off four straight pitches — including three sliders — before striking out swinging on a slider.

Gallardo then needed 24 pitches to get out of the fifth inning, including a nine-pitch at-bat against Buxton that ended with a one-out double into left-center field. Gallardo again got ahead 0-2 but couldn't put him away. Buxton fouled off four pitches and worked the count full before hitting a ball into the gap.

“They fouled off some pretty good pitches, but also I think those were the innings I was struggling with my command a little bit,” Gallardo said. “The fastballs I was throwing, they were up, they were a little bit too much over the plate. Earlier in the game, I was locating the fastballs down.”

Showalter said he expects those deep counts with Gallardo. “See how many pitches just missed tonight. You'll see a lot of that. Watching him the last couple of years, that's kind of who he is.”

As for Gallardo, his debut was a success because it ended with a win.

“It's exciting,” he said. “I just had to battle. ... We got the victory, so that's the most important thing.”

eencina@baltsun.com

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