The way the Cleveland Guardians bled him for five runs last weekend in a 7-2 victory, finding holes in pitches that beat them, was a prime example of why the Blue Jays went 11-11 in his first 22 starts . “It’s weird,” interim manager John Snyder said before the game. “When you put his stuff down, he’s really, really, really good. So part of it is I think everybody goes through these ups and downs, lucky, unlucky, whether you’re a hitter or a pitcher. We like his stuff. Obviously, we trust him and I’m sure things will turn in his favor.” In start No. 23, they sure did, Gausman pitched seven shutout innings to propel the Blue Jays to a third straight victory, 4-0 over the New York Yankees on Friday night. At first, it looked like it might be a game night when DJ LeMahieu swung his first pitch of the game, a 91.2 mph, 404-foot fastball to center where Whit Merrifield spotted it in a performance that had 35 percent catch chance and Aaron Judge followed with a walk. But Gausman escaped that game unscathed, striking out the side in the second and allowing just three hits over the next few frames while striking out seven. “That’s huge,” Gausman said of Merrifield’s catch. “I always think the first baseman of the game definitely sets the tone, whether you give up a hit or walk the guy. Having a good defensive play on the first pitch of the game definitely woke me up.” From there, the Yankees, 12-24 in their last 36 games, were left helpless in the mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 split swings leading to a strikeout. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. He pitched seven innings or more for the sixth time this season. “To be honest, I never felt like I got into that big of a groove, which sounds weird to say,” Gausman admitted. “Some days hitter to hitter like you’re in the groove. Some days are long stretches of holdings. Today I felt like I was getting the first man out a lot and when you do that, you put yourself in a good position to not allow big innings.” The Yankees, already out of the league for a long time, pulled away helpless in his mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 swings on splits resulting in a whiff. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. The offense, meanwhile, lost George Springer who bounced a ball off his knee during a five-hit effort in Thursday’s 9-2 win, didn’t make it one-sided in the same way, but it was again a solid jump threat. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was robbed of a home run by a jumping Osvaldo Cabrera on the first pitch of the game and the pressure was on from there. Yankees starter Jameson Taillon held them in check until the third, when Merrifield led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on Cavan Biggio’s double and scored on Gurriel’s groundout. A short time later, Alejandro Kirk led off the frame with a base hit before Teoscar Hernandez hit home run No. 18 over the wall in left-center, having just missed a shot to center in the second. “I was looking for one of those breaking pitches (in the first at-bat), I got it and I hit it pretty good, but not enough to hit it out of the park,” said Hernandez, who looked at a fastball in his second at-bat. “But for me, it was a good sign because the plan I had was working from the beginning.” The Blue Jays missed a chance to bury the Yankees in the sixth when they put men on second and third with nobody out, but Lou Trivino came in for Taillon and stranded the runners. They were finally able to add in the ninth when they loaded the bases against Aroldis Chapman before Ron Marinaccio delivered a sacrifice fly to Danny Jansen that made it 4-0. Approach consistency is the biggest difference between his current three-game hitting streak and the 3-9 that preceded it. “Patience is good. Communication between players is good. Kind of a collective approach against how they’re going to get that starter out every night,” Schneider said of what allows the Blue Jays to keep the heat at the plate right now. “When you’re rolling a little bit, you don’t have to be the same guy every night and every guy has to do his part and pass the baton to the next guy. That’s the biggest thing here.” Jordan Romano locked things up in the ninth, making sure a brilliant night from Gausman didn’t go to waste. At 64-54, the Blue Jays re-enforce their position in a wild-card spot after nearly letting it slip away. “We just know we have to win games,” Gausman said. “Sometimes as a whole we focused on other teams and now we’ve put ourselves in a good position. But we’ll make the post-season or not based on how we play this last month-plus. We all know this. We know it’s going to be a challenge, and I think the urgency was lacking at certain points in the season. Where we are now, (44) games left, we have to put it on and now we have to go.” Gausman will be one of the keys to getting them there. He now has at least six shutout innings in three of his last four starts, capped by that ill-fated outing against Cleveland. It’s a reminder of what a great season he’s having, even better than his impressive stats already suggest.
title: “Gausman Continues To Shine As The Blue Jays Shut Out The Slumping Yankees Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-26” author: “Randy Machak”
The way the Cleveland Guardians bled him for five runs last weekend in a 7-2 victory, finding holes in pitches that beat them, was a prime example of why the Blue Jays went 11-11 in his first 22 starts . “It’s weird,” interim manager John Snyder said before the game. “When you put his stuff down, he’s really, really, really good. So part of it is I think everybody goes through these ups and downs, lucky, unlucky, whether you’re a hitter or a pitcher. We like his stuff. Obviously, we trust him and I’m sure things will turn in his favor.” In start No. 23, they sure did, Gausman pitched seven shutout innings to propel the Blue Jays to a third straight victory, 4-0 over the New York Yankees on Friday night. At first, it looked like it might be a game night when DJ LeMahieu swung his first pitch of the game, a 91.2 mph, 404-foot fastball to center where Whit Merrifield spotted it in a performance that had 35 percent catch chance and Aaron Judge followed with a walk. But Gausman escaped that game unscathed, striking out the side in the second and allowing just three hits over the next few frames while striking out seven. “That’s huge,” Gausman said of Merrifield’s catch. “I always think the first baseman of the game definitely sets the tone, whether you give up a hit or walk the guy. Having a good defensive play on the first pitch of the game definitely woke me up.” From there, the Yankees, 12-24 in their last 36 games, were left helpless in the mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 split swings leading to a strikeout. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. He pitched seven innings or more for the sixth time this season. “To be honest, I never felt like I got into that big of a groove, which sounds weird to say,” Gausman admitted. “Some days hitter to hitter like you’re in the groove. Some days are long stretches of holdings. Today I felt like I was getting the first man out a lot and when you do that, you put yourself in a good position to not allow big innings.” The Yankees, already out of the league for a long time, pulled away helpless in his mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 swings on splits resulting in a whiff. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. The offense, meanwhile, lost George Springer who bounced a ball off his knee during a five-hit effort in Thursday’s 9-2 win, didn’t make it one-sided in the same way, but it was again a solid jump threat. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was robbed of a home run by a jumping Osvaldo Cabrera on the first pitch of the game and the pressure was on from there. Yankees starter Jameson Taillon held them in check until the third, when Merrifield led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on Cavan Biggio’s double and scored on Gurriel’s groundout. A short time later, Alejandro Kirk led off the frame with a base hit before Teoscar Hernandez hit home run No. 18 over the wall in left-center, having just missed a shot to center in the second. “I was looking for one of those breaking pitches (in the first at-bat), I got it and I hit it pretty good, but not enough to hit it out of the park,” said Hernandez, who looked at a fastball in his second at-bat. “But for me, it was a good sign because the plan I had was working from the beginning.” The Blue Jays missed a chance to bury the Yankees in the sixth when they put men on second and third with nobody out, but Lou Trivino came in for Taillon and stranded the runners. They were finally able to add in the ninth when they loaded the bases against Aroldis Chapman before Ron Marinaccio delivered a sacrifice fly to Danny Jansen that made it 4-0. Approach consistency is the biggest difference between his current three-game hitting streak and the 3-9 that preceded it. “Patience is good. Communication between players is good. Kind of a collective approach against how they’re going to get that starter out every night,” Schneider said of what allows the Blue Jays to keep the heat at the plate right now. “When you’re rolling a little bit, you don’t have to be the same guy every night and every guy has to do his part and pass the baton to the next guy. That’s the biggest thing here.” Jordan Romano locked things up in the ninth, making sure a brilliant night from Gausman didn’t go to waste. At 64-54, the Blue Jays re-enforce their position in a wild-card spot after nearly letting it slip away. “We just know we have to win games,” Gausman said. “Sometimes as a whole we focused on other teams and now we’ve put ourselves in a good position. But we’ll make the post-season or not based on how we play this last month-plus. We all know this. We know it’s going to be a challenge, and I think the urgency was lacking at certain points in the season. Where we are now, (44) games left, we have to put it on and now we have to go.” Gausman will be one of the keys to getting them there. He now has at least six shutout innings in three of his last four starts, capped by that ill-fated outing against Cleveland. It’s a reminder of what a great season he’s having, even better than his impressive stats already suggest.
title: “Gausman Continues To Shine As The Blue Jays Shut Out The Slumping Yankees Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-10-21” author: “Angel Waddell”
The way the Cleveland Guardians bled him for five runs last weekend in a 7-2 victory, finding holes in pitches that beat them, was a prime example of why the Blue Jays went 11-11 in his first 22 starts . “It’s weird,” interim manager John Snyder said before the game. “When you put his stuff down, he’s really, really, really good. So part of it is I think everybody goes through these ups and downs, lucky, unlucky, whether you’re a hitter or a pitcher. We like his stuff. Obviously, we trust him and I’m sure things will turn in his favor.” In start No. 23, they sure did, Gausman pitched seven shutout innings to propel the Blue Jays to a third straight victory, 4-0 over the New York Yankees on Friday night. At first, it looked like it might be a game night when DJ LeMahieu swung his first pitch of the game, a 91.2 mph, 404-foot fastball to center where Whit Merrifield spotted it in a performance that had 35 percent catch chance and Aaron Judge followed with a walk. But Gausman escaped that game unscathed, striking out the side in the second and allowing just three hits over the next few frames while striking out seven. “That’s huge,” Gausman said of Merrifield’s catch. “I always think the first baseman of the game definitely sets the tone, whether you give up a hit or walk the guy. Having a good defensive play on the first pitch of the game definitely woke me up.” From there, the Yankees, 12-24 in their last 36 games, were left helpless in the mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 split swings leading to a strikeout. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. He pitched seven innings or more for the sixth time this season. “To be honest, I never felt like I got into that big of a groove, which sounds weird to say,” Gausman admitted. “Some days hitter to hitter like you’re in the groove. Some days are long stretches of holdings. Today I felt like I was getting the first man out a lot and when you do that, you put yourself in a good position to not allow big innings.” The Yankees, already out of the league for a long time, pulled away helpless in his mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 swings on splits resulting in a whiff. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. The offense, meanwhile, lost George Springer who bounced a ball off his knee during a five-hit effort in Thursday’s 9-2 win, didn’t make it one-sided in the same way, but it was again a solid jump threat. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was robbed of a home run by a jumping Osvaldo Cabrera on the first pitch of the game and the pressure was on from there. Yankees starter Jameson Taillon held them in check until the third, when Merrifield led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on Cavan Biggio’s double and scored on Gurriel’s groundout. A short time later, Alejandro Kirk led off the frame with a base hit before Teoscar Hernandez hit home run No. 18 over the wall in left-center, having just missed a shot to center in the second. “I was looking for one of those breaking pitches (in the first at-bat), I got it and I hit it pretty good, but not enough to hit it out of the park,” said Hernandez, who looked at a fastball in his second at-bat. “But for me, it was a good sign because the plan I had was working from the beginning.” The Blue Jays missed a chance to bury the Yankees in the sixth when they put men on second and third with nobody out, but Lou Trivino came in for Taillon and stranded the runners. They were finally able to add in the ninth when they loaded the bases against Aroldis Chapman before Ron Marinaccio delivered a sacrifice fly to Danny Jansen that made it 4-0. Approach consistency is the biggest difference between his current three-game hitting streak and the 3-9 that preceded it. “Patience is good. Communication between players is good. Kind of a collective approach against how they’re going to get that starter out every night,” Schneider said of what allows the Blue Jays to keep the heat at the plate right now. “When you’re rolling a little bit, you don’t have to be the same guy every night and every guy has to do his part and pass the baton to the next guy. That’s the biggest thing here.” Jordan Romano locked things up in the ninth, making sure a brilliant night from Gausman didn’t go to waste. At 64-54, the Blue Jays re-enforce their position in a wild-card spot after nearly letting it slip away. “We just know we have to win games,” Gausman said. “Sometimes as a whole we focused on other teams and now we’ve put ourselves in a good position. But we’ll make the post-season or not based on how we play this last month-plus. We all know this. We know it’s going to be a challenge, and I think the urgency was lacking at certain points in the season. Where we are now, (44) games left, we have to put it on and now we have to go.” Gausman will be one of the keys to getting them there. He now has at least six shutout innings in three of his last four starts, capped by that ill-fated outing against Cleveland. It’s a reminder of what a great season he’s having, even better than his impressive stats already suggest.
title: “Gausman Continues To Shine As The Blue Jays Shut Out The Slumping Yankees Klmat” ShowToc: true date: “2022-11-27” author: “Dan Martin”
The way the Cleveland Guardians bled him for five runs last weekend in a 7-2 victory, finding holes in pitches that beat them, was a prime example of why the Blue Jays went 11-11 in his first 22 starts . “It’s weird,” interim manager John Snyder said before the game. “When you put his stuff down, he’s really, really, really good. So part of it is I think everybody goes through these ups and downs, lucky, unlucky, whether you’re a hitter or a pitcher. We like his stuff. Obviously, we trust him and I’m sure things will turn in his favor.” In start No. 23, they sure did, Gausman pitched seven shutout innings to propel the Blue Jays to a third straight victory, 4-0 over the New York Yankees on Friday night. At first, it looked like it might be a game night when DJ LeMahieu swung his first pitch of the game, a 91.2 mph, 404-foot fastball to center where Whit Merrifield spotted it in a performance that had 35 percent catch chance and Aaron Judge followed with a walk. But Gausman escaped that game unscathed, striking out the side in the second and allowing just three hits over the next few frames while striking out seven. “That’s huge,” Gausman said of Merrifield’s catch. “I always think the first baseman of the game definitely sets the tone, whether you give up a hit or walk the guy. Having a good defensive play on the first pitch of the game definitely woke me up.” From there, the Yankees, 12-24 in their last 36 games, were left helpless in the mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 split swings leading to a strikeout. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. He pitched seven innings or more for the sixth time this season. “To be honest, I never felt like I got into that big of a groove, which sounds weird to say,” Gausman admitted. “Some days hitter to hitter like you’re in the groove. Some days are long stretches of holdings. Today I felt like I was getting the first man out a lot and when you do that, you put yourself in a good position to not allow big innings.” The Yankees, already out of the league for a long time, pulled away helpless in his mostly fastball/splitter mix, with eight of their 15 swings on splits resulting in a whiff. Even with his fastball down a tick, at 94.1 instead of his season average of 95, he had power from the second inning on. The offense, meanwhile, lost George Springer who bounced a ball off his knee during a five-hit effort in Thursday’s 9-2 win, didn’t make it one-sided in the same way, but it was again a solid jump threat. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was robbed of a home run by a jumping Osvaldo Cabrera on the first pitch of the game and the pressure was on from there. Yankees starter Jameson Taillon held them in check until the third, when Merrifield led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on Cavan Biggio’s double and scored on Gurriel’s groundout. A short time later, Alejandro Kirk led off the frame with a base hit before Teoscar Hernandez hit home run No. 18 over the wall in left-center, having just missed a shot to center in the second. “I was looking for one of those breaking pitches (in the first at-bat), I got it and I hit it pretty good, but not enough to hit it out of the park,” said Hernandez, who looked at a fastball in his second at-bat. “But for me, it was a good sign because the plan I had was working from the beginning.” The Blue Jays missed a chance to bury the Yankees in the sixth when they put men on second and third with nobody out, but Lou Trivino came in for Taillon and stranded the runners. They were finally able to add in the ninth when they loaded the bases against Aroldis Chapman before Ron Marinaccio delivered a sacrifice fly to Danny Jansen that made it 4-0. Approach consistency is the biggest difference between his current three-game hitting streak and the 3-9 that preceded it. “Patience is good. Communication between players is good. Kind of a collective approach against how they’re going to get that starter out every night,” Schneider said of what allows the Blue Jays to keep the heat at the plate right now. “When you’re rolling a little bit, you don’t have to be the same guy every night and every guy has to do his part and pass the baton to the next guy. That’s the biggest thing here.” Jordan Romano locked things up in the ninth, making sure a brilliant night from Gausman didn’t go to waste. At 64-54, the Blue Jays re-enforce their position in a wild-card spot after nearly letting it slip away. “We just know we have to win games,” Gausman said. “Sometimes as a whole we focused on other teams and now we’ve put ourselves in a good position. But we’ll make the post-season or not based on how we play this last month-plus. We all know this. We know it’s going to be a challenge, and I think the urgency was lacking at certain points in the season. Where we are now, (44) games left, we have to put it on and now we have to go.” Gausman will be one of the keys to getting them there. He now has at least six shutout innings in three of his last four starts, capped by that ill-fated outing against Cleveland. It’s a reminder of what a great season he’s having, even better than his impressive stats already suggest.
