Two pitchers will face their former teams in Thursday’s series finale between the Toronto Blue Jays and San Francisco Giants.
Kevin Gausman will take the mound in the Bay Area for the first time since departing San Francisco to join the Blue Jays in 2021. He played against his former club back in 2023 when the Giants came to Toronto as he allowed just one run on three hits over six innings while recording 12 strikeouts in a 3-0 defeat.
This season, Gausman has been through some ups and downs but is coming off a promising outing against the Seattle Mariners, where he had 10 strikeouts through six innings. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays bats couldn’t give Gausman the run support he needed in a 2-1 loss – a common theme this season.
The 33-year-old is 6-8 this season with a 4.64 ERA and has been working on getting back to his form from last season.
As Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling wrote after his start against the Mariners, Gausman tweaked his delivery, seeking to start from a more hunched-over, forward-leaning position before he comes to the plate. The idea is that it will allow him to work around the strike zone with his fastball more consistently, and minimize the horizontal movement on his splitter in favour of more vertical.
“Any time you have to make a mechanical adjustment in the middle of the season is hard. But I threw a really good bullpen two days ago and I was really optimistic about it,” Gausman said. “I always say the hitters are going to let you know. And punching out the first guy to start the game definitely gave me a little bit of confidence. … You could see the swing-and-misses, the uncomfortable at-bats that you’re used to seeing with me. It was nice to see those.”
The Blue Jays offence will look for another big outing when Hicks takes to the mound for the first time against his former club.
Hicks joined the Blue Jays from a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals last season and went 2-3 with a 2.63 ERA and four saves in 25 appearances with Toronto. The 27-year-old let the Blue Jays in free agency to join the Giants on a four-year, $44 million contract.
Hicks was off to a strong start with a 4-1 record with a 2.38 ERA in his first 10 starts this season. However, Hicks hasn’t been able to maintain that momentum as he is winless in his last eight starts going 0-4 with a 5.02 ERA.
If the Blue Jays want to win back-to-back series, they will have to do it without Bo Bichette and Daulton Varsho in the lineup. Both players were forced to leave Wednesday’s game, with Bichette leaving with a sore right calf and Varsho with a left knee contusion.
Toronto will look to build off a 10-6 win over San Franciso, with Ernie Clement recording a home run in back-to-back games.
