Blue Jays' John Schneider feeling nostalgic after Kevin Gausman outduels Tarik Skubal
Nobody in baseball is as hot as the Toronto Blue Jays at the moment, who improved to 17-4 in the month of July with a very impressive victory over the Detroit Tigers on Saturday night. The Jays have now won three in a row against the AL Central leaders and will go for the four-game sweep on Sunday in Detroit.
While the Blue Jays have been surging and the Tigers have ben struggling, Saturday night's result was still somewhat surprising based on who was on the mound. Kevin Gausman took the bump for the Blue Jays while Tarik Skubal, the best pitcher in baseball, got the ball for the Tigers.
Gausman has been solid this season, but has not quite been at the level of some of his best seasons in 2021 with the San Francisco Giants and in 2023 with the Toronto Blue Jays. However, he found that form again on Saturday to lead his team to a win.
'It looked like three years ago,' Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of the performance, via ESPN. 'He was just dominating where he wanted to go with the ball, and his splitter was a difference-maker.'
Gausman pitched six innings and was nearly flawless all game long, giving up just one hit and one walk while striking out 10 batters. He did not give up a run as the Blue Jays raced to a 6-1 victory.
On the other side, Skubal also brought some of his best stuff despite just making it through five innings and 96 pitches. He gave up five hits and three walks while striking out seven, but still didn't give up a run. Instead, the Detroit bullpen faltered late in the game as Toronto came away with the win.
The Blue Jays currently have the best record in baseball at 63-42, but they will need more performances like this one from Gausman and the rest of their arms on the mound if they want to snap their World Series drought that dates all the way back to 1993. If he can keep this form up for a prolonged period moving forward, Toronto will be very tough to beat in the postseason.
Related: Why Blue Jays' Max Scherzer will be 'up at night' despite strong outing vs. Tigers
Related: Tigers manager AJ Hinch gives Blue Jays credit after another brutal loss
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