Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Big Days From Gausman, Springer Lift Blue Jays Over Royals
The flowing locks were gone, but the strikeouts remained.
A cleaner-cut, fresh-faced iteration of Kevin Gausman toed the slab for the Blue Jays on Saturday, but the same Cy-Young-contending hurler showed up against the Royals.
Backed up by a huge offensive day from George Springer, Gausman and the Jays snatched a second win — and secured a series victory — against the lowly Royals.
Gausman spun on the spot in the sixth, twirling off the mound in celebration of his sixth strikeout on the afternoon. The starting pitcher bounced toward the Toronto dugout, strutting with a swagger as Kansas City's MJ Melendez slunk back to the Royals' bench after a woeful whiff.
Gausman looked all his usual aceness on Saturday, mixing the fastball, splitter, and a few more sliders than usual. The 32-year-old earned 18 whiffs on 52 swings, earning an elite 40% called-strike plus whiff rate.
"I think when you just kind of put him with his stuff in a vacuum he's as good as anybody in baseball," manager John Schneider said.
As Gausman twirled through the Royals' order, George Springer provided nearly all of Toronto's offense. The right fielder smashed a homer off Zack Greinke in the fourth to open the scoring and then drove in two more tallies with a single in the fifth. Two innings later, he added a second smash. This time, launching an opposite-field homer into right that bounced into the Royals' bullpen. As Springer rounded the bases and reached back home, he thrust his fist up into the air in celebration.
"George, when he's hot, he can just take over the game," Gausman said. "And he kind of single-handedly beat them today."
Just before Springer's second run-scoring hit, Royals' pitching coach Brian Sweeney walked out to the mound to check with Greinke. With a base open at first, there was a case to intentionally walk Springer, as the Blue Jays outfielder owned a career .500 batting average against the righty entering the at-bat. Instead, Greinke pitched to Springer and the Blue Jay made him pay, again.
Over the last few weeks, individual Blue Jays have had their moments. Bo Bichette returned from the IL and lifted Toronto on Friday, Davis Schneider has won a few games himself, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has added his homers. On Saturday, it was Gausman and Springer who hoisted the roster onto their backs.
It'll take a few more games like Saturday's, and a few more heroes, to lift the Blue Jays into October.
