Blue Jays Accomplished Something Against Jacob deGrom Never Done Before
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Coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays, it was anyone’s guess how the Toronto Blue Jays would respond to start their three-game series against the Texas Rangers to complete their six-game road trip.
Things certainly weren’t going to be easy, matching up against two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom in Game 1 of the series.
Toeing the rubber for the Blue Jays was Kevin Gausman, who was up to the task facing off against one of the best starting pitchers in the sport.
A good old fashioned pitcher’s duel ensued where Toronto came out on top with the help of Gausman throwing a gem.
He pitched eight innings, surrendering only five hits with one earned run while also striking out six and walking none.
That was enough to defeat deGrom, who pitched 5.1 innings and gave up two earned runs. The first was on a solo home run by Daulton Varsho and the second came via a sacrifice fly by Alejandro Kirk.
The Blue Jays were able to draw two walks off of deGrom.
It was the first time he issued multiple walks in a game since May 4 and only the fourth time all year across 11 outings.
What History Did Blue Jays Make Against Rangers’ Jacob deGrom?
Alas, the most surprising outcome from the game was the fact that Toronto didn’t strike out once.
As shared by Mitch Bannon of The Athletic on X, the Blue Jays are the first team to face off against the four-time All-Star and not strike out a single time.
He had recorded at least one strikeout in all 228 of his starts up until Monday’s outing, snapping an insane streak.
The #BlueJays are the first team in Jacob deGrom’s career to hold him to 0 strikeouts.
— Mitch Bannon (@MitchBannon) May 26, 2025
He’s had at least 1 K in his first 228 MLB starts, before today
One of the most dominant pitchers to take the mound in recent history, it is quite an achievement by Toronto not to go down on strikes one time.
The Blue Jays certainly lived up to their billing as the team with the lowest strikeout rate in baseball.
Even with his changed approach this season, altering his arm slot and scaling back the velocity a little bit, deGrom was averaging more than one strikeout per inning entering Monday’s game before the impressive feat was pulled off by Toronto's lineup.
