Kevin Gausman added 12 to his American League-leading strikeout total, but his former team scratched a run across against him and toppled the Blue Jays.
Gausman, who has been elite since signing with the Blue Jays, took a no-hitter into the fourth inning in his six-inning gem. He struck out both LaMonte Wade Jr. and Joc Pederson three times apiece, and his former teammates from 2021 had no chance against his fastball-splitter combo. He faced 22 batters and struck out 12 of them.
But Patrick Bailey, San Francisco’s rookie supernova, threw out a runner and doubled home the game’s only run. Thairo Estrada went 2-for-4 with a two-RBI double late during a struggle of an individual month. In a pitcher’s duel, 30 of the game’s 54 total outs came via the strikeout.
Behind timely hitting and a shutout via four pitchers — who didn’t walk a single Blue Jay — the Giants (45-34) bested Toronto, 3-0. Camilo Doval is tied for the MLB lead in saves and San Francisco is now a perfect 10-for-10 in road games this month.
As flawed as the statistic is, Gausman took the loss.
Gausman pitched with vengeance for his entire start. In the first three innings, he struck out six while retiring all nine batters he faced. The velocity on all three of his pitches was up compared to his season average.
Gausman fanned the side in the first. He followed Blake Sabol looking on a fastball and blew another by Thairo Estrada. Gausman’s fastball touched 97.7 mph, well above his typical heater; he was really rearing back against his former team.
He threw 44 pitches through three innings. The Giants put three in play.
After Gausman’s seventh strikeout — when he fanned LaMonte Wade Jr. for a second time — the pitch timer stopped momentarily for the Rogers Centre crowd to give him an ovation. That was Gausman’s 1,500 career strikeout, an arbitrary milestone that he probably should have celebrated as a Giant.
After two seasons in orange and black, Gausman departed in free agency for Toronto ahead of the 2022 season. He was a terrific Giant, both on and off the diamond, but the Giants never offered him a contract. He wanted to return to San Francisco, but the Giants’ current front office has been averse to handing out long-term contracts for pitchers like the five-year, $110 million deal Gausman inked.
In a tweet sent that winter, Gausman mused that “There is a fine line between dipping an Oreo for the perfect amount of time or having it break off into the milk. Sometimes in life you gotta take risks and be able to live with the consequences,” a message some interpreted as a veiled shot at the Giants. His first 47 starts of the five-year contract might’ve already paid for the last year in value given how much Gausman has produced.
Since he joined the Blue Jays, no pitcher in baseball has amassed more Fangraphs WAR than Gausman.
He only piled more on against the Giants.
A batter after Wade, Gausman punched out Joc Pederson. He missed slightly inside in a full count to J.D. Davis, with the walk representing the only base runner Gausman surrendered in four no-hit innings.
But the Giants kept the scoreboard full of zeroes.
Ryan Walker made obscure MLB history by appearing in his third straight game for the Giants, with two as the “starter” when he opened. Walker struck out three batters in a row, including Brandon Belt, to get out of the jam.
Walker passed off to Alex Wood for the left-handers second bullpen appearance both of this season and as a Giant. This was the first instance of Wood coming in directly after an opener.
Wood signed with the Giants initially to be a starting pitcher. The Dodgers, his former employer, yanked him between the rotation and bullpen frequently. Wood, despite stark third-time-through-the-order splits, was a starter for his first two full seasons with the Giants, a stretch of 52 games.
Now Wood, Tristan Beck, Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea and Jakob Junis are all starter-caliber pitchers in the Giants’ bullpen.
Wood nearly replicated Gausman’s strikeout propensity, putting up six Ks in his first three innings. The relief role could allow Wood to avoid facing tough matchups a third time while lasting deeper into games.
With Wood and Gausman pumping, the Blue Jays and Giants combined for 17 strikeouts through four scoreless innings. Then SF finally got to Gausman.
Estrada singled through the right side of Toronto’s infield, stole second and advanced to third on a balk. Estrada then scored on a double from Patrick Bailey, who earlier in the game threw out his 10th runner on the base paths.
Bailey’s offense is a bonus, and will likely come crashing down to earth. His BABIP was .400 before Tuesday, a completely unsustainable rate.
But the catcher is already a weapon behind the dish, and will rank as one of the most valuable rookies in MLB if he can even come close to keeping this up. He ranks 10th among rookies in Fangraphs WAR despite only playing 29 games.
Gausman’s 10th, 11th and 12th strikeouts in the sixth inning by putting down Wade, Pederson and Michael Conforto — arguably SF’s top three hitters.
Wood, who may be tailor-made to work with an opener, left Tyler Rogers with a runner on second in the seventh. But the submarining Rogers, working with a 1.86 ERA, struck out two to preserve SF’s 1-0 lead.
Then Belt, who spent the first 12 years of his MLB career and won two titles with the Giants, doubled off Rogers with two outs in the eighth. Camilo Doval cleaned the inning up, though, by retiring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and going on to record a four-out save.
Belt had one of Toronto’s five doubles. None of them resulted in runs.
The Giants, meanwhile, delivered with their minute opportunities. Their .978 OPS with runners in scoring position this month heading into Tuesday was about 150 points higher than the second-place team.
The timely hitting continued in the ninth, when Estrada broke a month-long slump with a two-RBI double off the left field wall. He’d been hitting .188 with two extra base hits in his previous 11 games.
The Giants went 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position, coming up with the big hits while Toronto (1-for-12 RISP) couldn’t.