Biggio, Bats, and Rally Beers Lift Blue Jays Over Twins

Kevin Gausman didn't walk off the mound to his usual thunderous applause. There was no ovation, no tip of the cap, no jump over the third-base foul line.

Sunday was a rare stinker for the Blue Jays' unquestioned ace. The Twins tallied four runs on Gausman in the opening inning and the righty lasted just 4.2 frames. The splitter-chucker has carried the Jays to plenty of wins this season. Sunday was an opportunity for the offense to pick up Gausman, instead.

"They never really gave up," manager John Schneider said. "It was a winnable game the whole way through."

Gausman's been near perfect for most of the season — and he's had to be. The Jays averaged just 3.23 runs per game with Gausman on the mound — the second-lowest run support among all American League starters. Despite Gausman's 2.63 ERA, the Jays were just 7-6 in his outings before Sunday's comeback.

"For whatever reason, it seems like runs are hard to come by when he's on the mound," Schneider said.

So, when the first six Minnesota hitters reached base, Toronto's chances at a win seemed slim. When the Twins added two more scores to go up 6-1, ending the book on Gausman in the fifth, slim turned to nil. Or so it seemed.

In nine June games before Sunday's outburst, the Jays averaged 3.5 runs per contest. They'd scored more than four runs just twice this month. The Jays are still 8-3 in June, but runs have been hard to come by — until Sunday.

"Three-run homers and two-run homers are tough to defend against," Schneider said. "That hasn't really been there, and I think we got those today."

The first sign of life came in the fifth when a Matt Chapman moonshot cleared the outfield wall to cut the Twins' lead to two. As the Jays chipped away, Gausman sat in the trainer's room, nervously sipping a beer as he received his standard post-game arm care.

Gausman's an admittedly superstitious guy. So, to keep the comeback going, he cracked another beverage as Alejandro Kirk and Santiago Espinal reached in the eighth, sending Cavan Biggio to the plate as the winning run.

As Biggio's bat cracked on contact, the infielder started out of the batter's box with his bat still in hand. The Blue Jays' 1B knew off the bat — it's as good as he can square one up, Biggio said. He made it more than halfway down the line still gripping the barrel in his hand, dropping the bat only to high-five his first-base coach as the ball cleared the wall.

"To tell you the truth," Biggio said. "I don't really remember what was going through my head."

When Gausman exited the game in the fifth, the Jays had just a 9.9% chance of winning, per win probability. But, it was the offense's turn to do right by Gausman. Not that the starter didn't aid in the win — a few rally beers may have helped.

"Like I said, it's superstition," Gausman said. "Gotta keep it going."