Gausman Delivers Dominant Performance in Key Win vs Yankees
Kevin Gausman has never been good in the first two innings, but he knows it will be a good game once he gets off to a fast start.
In the first two at-bats of the Toronto Blue Jays' 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night, Gausman struck out Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge, the two-time American League MVP. In seven innings, Gausman struck out eight batters and allowed just one run, helping Toronto defeat the rival Yankees in a crucial game.
That one-two punchout was when Gausman knew he had his best stuff.
Regretfully, I typically perform poorly in the first two innings. Gausman, who has a career earned-run average of 3.86, said, "If I could figure that out, my career ERA would be so much lower." However, over his 13 Major League Baseball seasons, he has a 4.69 ERA in the first inning and a 3.32 ERA in the second.
"But I feel pretty confident that I can go seven innings or even more when I can come out and establish the fastball and throw swing-and-miss splitters right out of the gate."
In the first inning, Gausman fell behind Judge 2-0, but he got him out with a swinging strike on a fastball with four seams, a foul ball on another fastball with four seams, and another swinging strike on a splitter.
In the fifth inning, with Oswald Peraza on third base and two outs, the two fought once more.
In that at bat, Gausman jumped out to a quick 0–2 count, but Judge drew two balls to tie the score at 2-2. The judge popped up an 84.6 m.p.h. Splitter to catcher Alejandro Kirk to finish the top of the first after fouling off three consecutive four-seamers that were all above 96 mph.
Regarding the outstanding performance versus Judge, Gausman remarked, "That's kind of mano a mano." "I tried to throw my best fastballs because if he gets hit, it will score a run, and if I get him out, I'm out of the inning."
"My numbers against him aren't that terrific, if you look at them. He's been quite successful against me. I've had a lot of problems with him, but there's a reason he won MVP twice.
When Kirk caught the pop-fly in foul territory, the 41,786-person Rogers Centre sold-out audience gave a loud ovation, suggesting that they were enjoying Gausman's fights against Judge.
"Gausman was fantastic," Blue Jays manager John Schneider remarked. It's kind of what you would expect from a seasoned individual to kickstart the series.
In the fifth inning, Huge batted against Judge. The battle was good. Heaters chased after him, but Kev had complete control. Excellent performance.
It was Toronto's (59-41) seventh victory in ten games and fourth consecutive victory. The Blue Jays added to their lead atop the AL East, four games ahead of New York.
"It will be significant to go seven innings against a division rival, particularly in the opening game of a series. Rest some of those guys out there (in the bullpen)," Gausman stated. "It will set things up nicely for the rest of the series if you can get a little bit further."
The Yankees still have two series games left at Rogers Centre. This season, Toronto has won a franchise-high 11 straight games at Rogers Centre and has a Major League Baseball-best 36-16 home record.
Schneider stated, "I believe that the city and the supporters deserve that." "We appreciate the help. The place is packed when you look up at 6:45 p.m.
"The guys sense that it's a cool feeling." Everyone senses that.