Revenge game spoiled for Gausman, Belt as Blue Jays blanked by Giants

TORONTO — What a potential revenge game for a pair of Toronto Blue Jays the series opener against the San Francisco Giants was set up to be. Kevin Gausman, starting against the team that helped forge him into the Cy-Young calibre force he is today, but that also didn’t make him an offer when he entered free agency two falls ago. Brandon Belt, the heart-and-soul first baseman pivotal to a pair of World Series championship runs, discarded after 12 years following knee surgery, likewise facing his former teammates for the first time. 

“I thought there was always a chance that I'd be going back there really up until the day that I signed with Toronto,” Belt, a cult hero in San Francisco, said beforehand. “It was definitely a weird off-season to say the least, but I'm happy with the way things turned out. It's baseball. I've played with a lot of guys that have moved on. I've had a lot of my friends go to other teams. And so you always know that there's a chance, in fact, it's likely you won't be with the same team your whole career.”

Sure enough, and though athletes can be objective enough to rationalize that reality, their competitive nature also often drives them to get the best of their previous team in future clashes. Despite six more innings of brilliance from Gausman and a double from Belt, that didn’t happen Tuesday night, the Blue Jays’ all-too-familiar troubles hitting with runners in scoring position resurfacing in a 3-0 loss to the Giants.

Little more could have been asked for from Gausman, who struck out the side in the first, added two more Ks in the second and finished with 12 punchies — including the 1,500^th of his career — while allowing just one run before a Rogers Centre crowd of 36,004.

But a Giants team that’s now won 13 times in the past 15 games did just enough to pull this one out, while opener Ryan Walker, bulk arm Alex Wood and relievers Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval walked the tightwire just well enough to knock off a Blue Jays team that had won four of its past five. They struck out a season-high 17 times while being shut out for the second time this year.

“Weird looks. This is how they're built,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of the Giants’ pitching. “We knew that going in and you've got to be really, really convicted to a very specific approach, especially with runners in scoring position. That's been the theme for the past month or so, it seems like. … You look at first inning, the seventh inning, runner at third (with less than two outs), you've got to get those guys in. Credit to them. But at the same time, you've got to have a really, really diligent approach against those guys.”

The Blue Jays certainly didn’t lack for chances. 

George Springer opened the first with a ground-rule double and then advanced to third when Bo Bichette followed with a base hit, unable to score because he had to ensure the line drive to right wasn’t caught. Up came Belt, opportunity to immediately do harm to his former team, but Walker struck him out on a 95 m.p.h. sinker, before Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Chapman went down swinging, too. 

It was a sign of things to come. 

Belt stranded Bichette’s two-out double in the third when he struck out again, Chapman’s one-out double in the fourth went to waste, a leadoff single by Bichette in the sixth went nowhere as did Daulton Varsho’s double to open the seventh, even after Whit Merrifield advanced him to third with a grounder before Danny Jansen and Cavan Biggio struck out against Rogers. Belt’s two-out double in the eighth opened the door for some late drama but Guerrero flew out to right against the ruthless Doval. 

The Blue Jays were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position by the time Thairo Estrada — who singled, stole second, was balked to third and scored on Patrick Bailey’s double in the fifth — broke things open in the ninth with a two-out, two-run double off Erik Swanson.

“The approach is what it is. It has to be consistent. Tonight just wasn't wasn't it with the strikeouts,” said Schneider. “I think guys take it as it comes. Sooner or later we're going to get it done pretty consistently.”

Gausman, of course, continues to get it done with remarkable consistency and while he said the departure from the Giants and not getting an offer in free agency from them was in the past, he admitted to having a little extra in the tank for this one.

“I think any player will tell you that you always want to do well against your former team,” he said. “That's just the reality of it. You want to get the big hit, the big strikeout. I was pretty fired up for this game for sure. I know a lot of guys over there. I've watched some of those hitters for a couple of years and so I kind of knew what to do against them. That helped.”

It showed as Gausman’s velocity was up across the board from season averages, his fastball sitting at 95.5 m.p.h. rather than the usual 94.5, while he topped out at 97.7. 

He also got 11 of his 22 swinging strikes with a heater he relied on a bit more than usual, moving it up and down to better complement his splitter, utilizing his repertoire the way he learned to during his time with the Giants.

“They obviously did a lot for my career and I have a lot of respect for the organization and the people that are there,” said Gausman. “The people over there are great, from the training staff all the way down, the doctors and everybody in between. And so I can't say anything bad about anybody there, but they're my opponent now, so obviously I want to beat them.”

Gausman certainly did has part, but the Blue Jays offence couldn’t do enough to make it a revenge game for him and Belt to remember.