TORONTO – Kevin Gausman desperately wanted to pitch against the Seattle Mariners, so he threw a bullpen at T-Mobile Park last Friday with a Sunday start in mind.
The next morning he awoke to renewed swelling in the right ankle struck by a Wander Franco liner back on July 2 and the those initial plans were quickly shelved. Once the area calmed down, another side was scheduled for Tuesday back in Toronto, there were no side-effects Wednesday and so it was back to the mound Thursday after nearly two weeks down.
“There’s still some swelling in there, some bruising in there, I wouldn’t say I’m 100 per cent,” he said ahead of the outing. “But it’s definitely manageable enough in that to go out there and pitch.”
On Thursday night, the Toronto Blue Jays ace did just that, holding a Kansas City Royals team depleted by 10 players – Whit Merrifield, Andrew Benintendi and Hunter Dozier among them – to a pair of runs over six traffic-filled innings.
That should have been more than good enough to drive his team to a third straight victory, but instead another night of frustration at the plate meant a gimme on paper turned into a deflating 3-1 loss.
Angel Zerpa, one of eight reinforcements brought up to cover K.C.’s roster gaps, held the Blue Jays to one run on four hits, a Matt Chapman solo shot in the fifth among them, before Jackson Kowar, Taylor Clarke and Scott Barlow, locking things down in the ninth, allowed only three hits the rest of the way.
A lineup shakeup in which Vladimir Guerrero Jr., was pushed up to the two-spot behind George Springer, Alejandro Kirk up to three with Bo Bichette sliding down to fourth didn’t produce immediate results, but was the latest example of the tweaks interim manager John Schneider intends to make.
Schneider said he’s been talking to both Guerrero and Bichette about the idea for a while and got both of them to sign off.
“I’ve always kind of liked it,” he said. “You get George and Vlad and Kirk in a row, on-base and damage potential. It’s a good setup for Bo, hopefully with guys on base. The more we can get Bo up with guys on base, the better off we are. So kind of just seeing how it rolls, but comfortable and happy that everyone’s happy with it.”
No one was happy with the result Thursday, although Gausman’s return should provide some long-term comfort.
The damage against him came in the fifth, when Nicky Lopez opened with a double, was sacrificed to third and scored on an Edward Oilveras single. After he was thrown out trying to extend to a double, a Bobby Witt Jr. solo shot made it a 2-0 lead and the Blue Jays didn’t recover.
