Star Blue Jays Pitcher Joins Elite Baseball History With Standout Month
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The Toronto Blue Jays will learn a lot about their season hopes in the next two weeks.
They sit on the cusp of the American League Wild Card spot, just one game back, but the Blue Jays haven’t put together a body of work that makes them contenders just yet.
Their recent four-game sweep of the Athletics fueled some momentum, but there’s not enough consistency.
Toronto’s offense was quietly second in the league in May with a 124 wRC+, but the season trend has been an improvement at the cost of strengths elsewhere, typically pitching.
However, that unit improved alongside the offense in May, jumping from a 4.64 ERA in April to a 4.24 ERA, and their strikeout-to-walk rate went from 13.66% to 17%.
Those numbers aren’t good enough to contend in the postseason, but they are certainly in the right direction, and a lot of that is thanks to the stellar play of one starting pitcher who could be a difference-maker.
Blue Jays’ Pitcher Kevin Gausman Joins MLB History
Pitcher Kevin Gausman was sensational and stabilizing through May. He had a 2.81 ERA through 32 innings pitched, and his performance made history according to Codify Baseball.
Gausman joined Ray Sadecki, Bret Saberhagen, David Price, Hisashi Iwakuma, and Freddy Peralta as the only pitchers to record more than 33 strikeouts, one walk or fewer, and no hit batters or pitchers through one calendar month.
33+ strikeouts
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) June 3, 2025
no more than 1 walk
no hit batters or wild pitches
one calendar month
Ray Sadecki (July 1971)
Bret Saberhagen (June 1993)
David Price (July 2013)
Hisashi Iwakuma (July 2014)
Freddy Peralta (Sept 2023)
Kevin Gausman (May 2025) 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/VnxpBmFZGZ
Gausman led starting pitchers with just one walk in May.
It’s a remarkable turnaround for the veteran who posted a 4.82 ERA through 28 innings pitched in April and is welcome in a rotation that’s been struggling to account for the absence of Max Scherzer.
He now carries a 3.82 ERA this season in 70.2 innings with 68 strikeouts to 14 walks—10 of which came in the month of April.
Should the Blue Jays falter in their next few series, Gausman may end up being a valuable trade piece.
Should Toronto manage to make a competitive run against the Phillies, Twins, and Cardinals, Gausman may end up being a big reason why.
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Maddy Hudak is the deputy editor for Tulane on Sports Illustrated and the radio sideline reporter for their football team. Maddy is an alumnus of Tulane University, and graduated in 2016 with a degree in psychology. She went on to obtain a Master of Legal Studies while working as a research coordinator at the VA Hospital, and in jury consulting. During this time, Maddy began covering the New Orleans Saints with SB Nation, and USA Today. She moved to New Orleans in 2021 to pursue a career in sports and became Tulane's sideline reporter that season. She enters her fourth year with the team now covering the program on Sports Illustrated, and will use insights from features and interviews in the live radio broadcast. You can follow her on X at @MaddyHudak_94, or if you have any questions or comments, she can be reached via email at maddy.hudak1@gmail.com