TORONTO – Five days after puzzling the Boston Red Sox in eight dominant innings at Fenway Park, Kevin Gaussman and his mesmerizing splitter once again made them sway in the air.
Another gem, this time six innings with four-stroke brilliance, nine outs, one unearned run, reinforced how his repertoire will not only play in the East American League meat grinder, but this knowledge will help a little to help opponents do damage to it.
Indeed, what the Toronto Blue Jays need to do is make sure they take advantage of what Gaussman gives them, something they did dramatically on Tuesday night, collecting three runs in the ninth before the victim. Ramiel Tapia in the 10th win over the Boston Red Sox 6-5.
Like many other victories in their 12-6 start, this was a journey.
“This team, they just come to you and they never feel like they’re out of the game,” Gaussman said. It is certainly difficult for the teams.
The same goes for the right-hander, who gave a 2-1 lead to the bullpen, which Yimi Garcia coughed up during the eighth with four runs – the first run won against him in nine outings so far.
But Jake Dickman couldn’t finish in the ninth when the next pair of Tapia and Santiago Espinal made it 5-3, before George Springer’s fourth Homer of the season and the 200th of his career flew over the left center wall of the field to forcing extras.
Jordan Romano, facing the heart of the Red Sox squad, followed zero at the top of the 10th place, calmly recovering after returning Xander Bogaerts hit him in the upper leg to come out first before hitting JD Martinez to end the shot.
The Red Sox then deliberately passed Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to open the bottom half, Alejandro Kirk made another walk after falling behind 0-2 to load the bases and after Matt Barnes caught Matt Chapman watching, Matt Stram entered .
Tapia fought him for nine games before sliding over five infields to the left field, allowing Bo Bichette to go home and cause a rogue among the 22,611 crowd.
“It’s like celebrating my first birthday – I’m very, very happy to help my team win a game like this,” said Tapia, who, after falling behind 0-2, saw five straight sliders, four ahead of them before finally winning. one he can drive, said through translator Hector LeBron. “You have to be ready for the fast ball. At the bottom of my mind I thought of the slider. But if I’m looking for the slider, I won’t be able to hit the fast ball. “
The three-hour, 47-minute affair was the latest endurance exercise for the Blue Jace team, which has played seven games in one run in its last nine outings, winning five. Even after the Red Sox gathered in the eighth and did nothing at the bottom, the attack erupted in a flash in the ninth.
“It’s been this team since I came here,” Springer said. “There is no real panic. There is always the belief that we are one bat away, one big field game, one field distance from getting back into the ball game. …
“We are a very, very good team from top to bottom,” he added. “We all complement each other, we understand our role, we understand our role separately. We all play as a team and we all go in the same direction. “
Gaussman led the way through the taut rope of the lever.
The only escape from Boston was at the top of the fourth when Bogaerts threw a ball against the substitution, stole a second and flew for third when Zack Collins’ throw was in the center field. Kike Hernandez cashed it in with a scapegoat on a liner brilliantly chased by diving Bradley Zimmer.
In addition, the Red Sox were invaluable against Gaussman, who had 19 swings, 14 of which on his splitter. His fast top, dotted 97.5 mph and sat 95.6, compared to his season average of 94, as he attacked relentlessly.
He did not walk until he crossed out nine, and his use of the field was almost identical to five days earlier.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t make many changes,” Gaussman said. “I would focus on my strengths, see what they would do and then adjust my game plan. They definitely took more shots from the first pitch. I don’t know if that was the plan, but overall I was still throwing fast balls and splits. I just had to do a little better with some of them in certain places. ”
This is easier said than done, but reflects the caliber of the pitcher it is.
The Red Sox would have had him fresh in their minds from last week, they knew what to expect from him, and there was no difference.
“It just shows you how good he is at mastering the things he has,” Springer said. “He is what he is for a reason. I mean, there’s some knowledge if you’ve just seen a person, but every day is new and you don’t know how he feels that day, the speed, all that stuff. He came out and I really thought it was him and he gave us a chance to win the match. “
It did, and even after things went awry, the Blue Jays found a way, as they often do in the first month of the new season.
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