SAN FRANCISCO — Kevin Gausman has a lot of fond memories from his time pitching at Oracle Park while with the San Francisco Giants.
In two years in the Bay Area, Gausman enjoyed two of his finest seasons. Leaning into his splitter-fastball combination, he resurrected his career and began his second act as one of the game’s top-performing starters.
But when he returned to San Francisco, most of the memories that rushed back centred around his two daughters, Sadie and Sutton.
“My youngest was born here in August in ’21. She’s about to be three, which is crazy. Time flies,” Gausman said. “During COVID, my other child was learning how to walk here and (it’s) a tough place to learn how to walk with all these hills. Lots of special memories for sure.”
On the field, this has been an uncharacteristic season for Gausman so far. The right-hander has seen an overall dip in his strikeout numbers and has been more homer-prone compared to his two previous seasons with the Blue Jays. As such, Gausman came into his start on Thursday with a 4.64 ERA. The last time his season ERA hovered above 4.00 was 2019, a season in which he was DFA’d before he turned his career around.
But lately, Gausman has been looking like his old self, and the trend continued on Thursday in the Blue Jays’ 5-3 win over the Giants, securing their second consecutive series win. Gausman held the Giants to two runs on six hits over seven innings with three strikeouts, the only damage coming from an Heliot Ramos two-run home run in the first inning.
In his last outing against the Seattle Mariners, Gausman changed his delivery to revert to something closer to how it looked in 2021, while he was pitching for the Giants. The changes, he said, would allow him to be around the zone a little bit more and it led him to having one of his best starts of 2024, as he struck out 10 in Seattle.
Dominating with his fastball was key to his success against the Mariners and was again the main theme against the Giants, Blue Jays manager John Schneider said.
“They were really aggressive today on that pitch,” Schneider said. “I thought he did a good job of working up and down, mixing a few sinkers. The homer there, it’s a pretty good split that Ramos hit out — that’s a good swing. But I thought fastball was a really good pitch for him today, located it really well.”
The Blue Jays offence also spotted Gausman an early lead. The lineup jumped on Giants starter Jordan Hicks with back-to-back singles from George Springer and Spencer Horwitz in the first inning. It led to a three-run inning, capped by a solo home run from Danny Jansen. Toronto padded the lead in the fourth and fifth innings, including with a solo home run from Horwitz that bounced off the outfield concourse and into McCovey Cove.
“It was a pretty complete effort and I really liked the way we came out day after night (game) in the first inning,” Schneider said.
Your newest Splash Brother: Spencer Horwitz 💦 pic.twitter.com/HOEvMWLs4R
— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) July 11, 2024
Gausman is trying to incorporate delivery changes on the fly — not an easy task — and he said it’s still a work in progress. Compared to his last outing, he indicated he fought more with his mechanics on Thursday.
“That’s just kind of where I’m at with the adjustment, but to bounce back after the first and kind of keep them where they’re at was huge,” he said.
With the All-Star break coming next week, Gausman can use that time to continue to work through the changes.
“I’m not where I want to be, but it’s a step in the right direction,” Gausman said. “It’s the little things right now. And so, I’m excited about keeping the process going forward.”
In the past two seasons, Gausman has spoken about how his first-half results have outpaced his second-half results. In 2022, his first-half ERA was 2.87 but it was 3.90 in the second half. Last season, his ERA before the All-Star break was 3.03 and it was 3.38 afterward. This season, Gausman is hoping to finish stronger in the season’s back half.
“The second half has kind of always been my kryptonite last couple of years,” he said. “The first half has been my kryptonite this year. So hopefully, the second half is going to be a lot more of what you’re used to seeing from me.”
While the Blue Jays have gone an encouraging 4-2 on their nine-game west-coast road trip so far, there is concern over the status of Bo Bichette.
After he was removed in the fourth inning of Wednesday night’s game, an MRI revealed a right calf fascia strain, according to Schneider. The shortstop is considered day-to-day, for now, and the team is “still kind of working through the next steps with him,” the manager said.
This is the second right calf injury Bichette has dealt with in a month. The 26-year-old missed nine games between June 15-24 with a right calf strain. In addition, Bichette suffered injuries to his right knee and quad last season.
The Blue Jays are still working through whether Bichette will need an IL stint. With the All-Star break beginning on Monday, the Blue Jays could keep Bichette out of the lineup for their upcoming series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, play with a short bench and hope the four days off next week is enough time for Bichette’s calf to heal. Alternatively, if the Blue Jays placed Bichette on the IL, he would be eligible to return by July 21, only missing six games. Schneider said the preference is to avoid placing Bichette on the IL, if possible.
“It is unique with a break coming up and just trying to see what’s best for him first and foremost and how we can navigate it with the four days off,” Schneider said.
Either way, Schneider said it is likely that another player will meet them in Arizona on Friday, just in case. In the interim, rookie Leo Jiménez can continue to play shortstop for the Blue Jays. He recorded his first career RBI on Thursday and Schneider has been impressed with what he’s seen from him so far.
“Really like what I’ve seen out of him, between his at-bats, his clock in the field,” Schneider said. “I think if the opportunity presents itself, which it is, he’s obviously ready and he’s done a really good job so far.”
(Photo of Gausman: Lachlan Cunningham / Getty Images)
