Gausman to start Game 1 for Blue Jays
Global News
A reward for clinching a playoff spot on the eve of the regular-season finale was that the Blue Jays could avoid a short-rest scenario for ace Kevin Gausman in the wild-card series.
MINNEAPOLIS – A reward for clinching a playoff spot on the eve of the regular-season finale was that the Blue Jays could avoid a short-rest scenario for ace Kevin Gausman in the wild-card series.
On Monday, the Blue Jays made it official and gave the veteran right-hander the Game 1 start against the Minnesota Twins.
“It was pretty simple really,” said Toronto manager John Schneider. “I think his body of work and wanting a guy out there to set the tone, you like Kev out there against anybody really.”
Gausman was 12-9 this season with a 3.16 earned-run average. He led the American League with 237 strikeouts.
The Twins will counter with Pablo Lopez (11-8, 3.66) for Tuesday’s opener of the best-of-three matchup at Target Field.
Gausman relies mostly on a mid-90s fastball and a splitter that regularly handcuffs batters. He also works in a slider on occasion.
He described the last few days of the season as “pretty weird,” given that he had to prepare for the possibility that he might be needed to pitch Sunday against Tampa Bay.
“I had to mentally prepare like I was pitching No. 162,” he said. “That was kind of hard. It was a mental battle constantly to just stay locked in, in case we needed every game to get to here.”
