Gausman Twirls a Shutout, 7-0 Jays

That was a vast improvement over last night. The starting pitching was somehow even better today, and the lineup shook off their jet lag and hammered the A’s pitching like they should.

Kevin Gausman recorded his first career shutout in style today. Credit to Pete Walker and John Schneider for letting him go back out after 94 pitches through eight and after a long top of the ninth. It hadn’t been a stressful outing by any stretch, with Toronto in the lead from the jump and by a comfortable margin after the fifth, but we’ve all seen managers get skittish and pull guys when they probably didn’t need to. Today the Jays stuck with their ace and he rewarded their confidence.

On the offensive side, the lineup recorded ten hits, six for extra bases, and eight walks while striking out just three times. Luis Medina wasn’t sharp, and the A’s bullpen outside Mason Miller is grim, but still, this team has failed to light up flammable pitching many times this year so it’s always good to see them jump on an opportunity.

Luis Medina couldn’t locate his command in the first. After Davis Schneider popped up, Spencer Horwitz, Vladimir Guerrero jr., and Bo Bichette worked back-to-back-to-back walks to load the bases. Danny Jansen flied out, but it was enough to bring Horwitz home and ruin the Jays’ pursuit of the all time first inning futility streak. Great work, new guy.

They threatened again in the second, with Daulton Varsho lining a single and Schneider walking, but couldn’t capitaize.

After they went down in order in the third and fourth, Kevin Kiermaier was able to extend the lead in the fifth with a leadoff homer to deep right. Three consecutive doubles from Vlad, Bo, and Danny Jansen bumped it out to four. Medina walked Dan Vogebach, his fifth of the afternoon, and that was the end of his day. Jack O’Loughlin didn’t do any better in relief, walking Varsho to load the bases, giving up an RBI single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and throwing a wild pitch that scored Vogelbach to make it 6-0. Only in Oakland can a ball get far enough past the catcher for Vogey to make it home.

Ernie Clement pinch hit for Horwitz in the sixth and doubled but wasn’t brought home. O’Loughlin settled down from there, retiring the Jays in order in the seventh and working around a walk to Schneider in a scoreless eighth.

Vinny Nittoli handled the ninth. Bo ripped a double, Jansen reached with an infield single, and Justin Turner (hitting for Vogebach) lined a single of his own to push the margin to 7.

Meanwhile, Kevin Gausman didn’t have his best velocity today, sitting about 92.5, but he was dealing regardless. He struck out 10 A’s while allowing just five hits and one walk through nine shutout innings. The only wobble was in the seventh, when a pair of hard line singles and a couple deep fly outs put men on second and third, but he struck out Tyler Soderstrom to escape the jam.

Jays of the Day: Gausman (0.267), Bichette (0.133),

The other award: nobody!

Game three goes tomorrow at 4:07pm ET. I hesitate to label any baseball game a must win, especially in June, but the Jays don’t play another bad team until they come back to the Bay Area to face the Giants this time next month. They’ll kick themselves if they don’t take advantage as they try to keep some faint hope alive.

Mitch Spence (4-3, 3.86) will represent the home team, while the Blue Jays haven’t announced a starter yet.