The first two innings have never been Kevin Gausman’s forte but when he gets off to a quick start he knows it’s going to be a good game.
Gausman struck out Trent Grisham and two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge 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 eight and gave up just one run over seven innings as Toronto earned a critical win over the rival Yankees.
That one-two punchout was when Gausman knew he had his best stuff.
“Unfortunately for me, I’m usually not very good at the first two innings. My career ERA would be so much lower if, you know, I could figure that out,” said Gausman, who has a 3.86 earned-run average over his career, although he has a 4.69 ERA in the first inning and a 3.32 ERA in the second over his 13 Major League Baseball seasons.
“But when I’m able to come out and establish the fastball and throw swing-and-miss splitters straight out the jump, I feel pretty confident that I can go seven innings or even more.”
Gausman fell behind Judge 2-0 in the first inning but then got him out with a swinging strike on a four-seam fastball, a foul ball on another four-seamer followed by another swinging strike on a splitter.
The two battled again in the fifth with Oswald Peraza on third base and two outs.
Gausman jumped out to a quick 0-2 count in that at bat but Judge drew a pair of balls to even it 2-2. Judge fouled off three-consecutive four-seamers that were all over 96 miles per hour, before he popped up an 84.6 m.p.h. splitter to catcher Alejandro Kirk to end the top of the inning.
“That’s kind of mano a mano,” said Gausman of the impressive showing against Judge. “If he gets a hit, it’s going to score a run, and if I get him out, I’m out of the inning so definitely tried to throw my best fastballs.
“If you look at my numbers, they’re not too great against him. He’s had a lot of success against me. I’ve struck him out a good bit, but he’s a two-time MVP for a reason.”
The sold-out Rogers Centre crowd of 41,786 seemed to appreciate Gausman’s battles against Judge, with a loud ovation when Kirk caught the pop-fly in foul territory.
“(Gausman) was awesome,” said Blue Jays manager John Schneider. “Kind of what you expect out of a veteran guy to get the series going.
“Huge at bat versus Judge in the fifth. That was a good battle. Came after him with heaters, but Kev, he was in total control. Really, really good performance.”
It was Toronto’s (59-41) fourth win in a row and seventh in 10 games. The Blue Jays added to their lead atop the AL East, four games ahead of New York.
“Anytime you can go seven innings, against a division rival is going to be big, especially the first game of a series, rest some of those guys out there (in the bullpen),” said Gausman. “If you can get a little bit further, it’s going to set things up nice for the rest of the series.”
The Yankees have two more games at Rogers Centre in the series. Toronto has a Major League Baseball-best 36-16 record at home so far this season and has won a franchise-best 11 consecutive games at Rogers Centre.
“I think that the city and the fans deserve that,” said Schneider. “We love the support. You look up at 6:45 p.m. and the place is full.
“It’s a really cool feeling and the guys, they feel that. Everyone feels that.”
