TORONTO – Kevin Gausman has remarked on many occasions that 2024 has been a grind for him.
By now you’re familiar with the right-hander’s progression: He dealt with a shoulder issue in spring training and admittedly rushed back too soon, a decision that cascaded into other problems. Gausman struggled to find his timing and has dealt with a decrease in velocity as well as inconsistency with his fastball and splitter.
To his credit, though, Gausman has battled admirably all year and, over his past few starts, produced much better results. In Monday’s 6-3 loss to the Cincinnati Reds, though, the right-hander took a slight step backward during an outing that almost seemed like a microcosm of his campaign.
Gausman’s velocity was down across the board in what was a chilly night in Toronto with the roof open. His fastball averaged 92.1 m.p.h., down from 94 m.p.h. on the season, while his splitter was clocked at 84.4, down from its 85.8 average. Even so, the right-hander managed to keep the Blue Jays in the game.
In the third inning, Gausman surrendered a double to former Blue Jays infielder Santiago Espinal, who advanced to third on a balk and scored on Elly De La Cruz’s sacrifice fly to left field. In the fourth, TJ Friedl launched a solo homer to right field off an 88.7 m.p.h. fastball from Gausman that tied the game at 2-2.
It was clear the right-hander didn’t have his best stuff. Far from it. However, he had managed to grind and keep the Blue Jays in the contest. Then came a sixth inning that was almost cruel.
With his pitch count climbing close to the century mark, Gausman engaged in an eight-pitch at-bat with Tyler Stephenson to open the frame. His final pitch to the Reds’ No. 3 hitter was a splitter that induced a swinging third strike. Gausman had won the battle but the ball got by Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk and allowed Stephenson to reach first.
The next batter, Friedl, singled to right field on Gausman’s 100th pitch of the night and that was it for the right-hander.
Manager John Schneider made his way to the mound to remove Gausman for right-hander Ryan Burr, who promptly surrendered doubles to three of the next four hitters he faced. That rally plated four runs, put the game out of reach and saddled Gausman with the hard-luck loss.
Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. blasted his 26th homer of the season, while Ernie Clement added his eighth longball of the campaign, but other than that, the Blue Jays offence was mostly listless against Reds starter Julian Aguiar, who was making his major-league debut, and the five relievers who followed.