Blue Jays' Gausman great through eight but Varsho's big bat seals the deal in slim win over Rangers
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This Toronto Blue Jays win was pretty much a solo effort offensively from the bat of Daulton Varsho, who belted his team-leading eighth home run of the season off Rangers ace Jacob deGrom in the first inning a rare early run for the offensively challenged Blue Jays.
The gold glove centerfielder then added a big double in his next at-bat in the third leading, setting up the Jays second (and final) run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Alejandro Kirk.
Varsho made it a three-hit afternoon with a leadoff bunt single in the ninth.
For Varsho then, home run No. 8 of the season was massive. It not only gave him the team the early lead, but it continued his torrid power pace since returning after missing the first month and change of the season.
Lined into the right-field corner, it was a rare first-inning score for a Jays team that had scored just 16 in the opening frame of the first 52 games of the season.
With Kevin Gausman stellar for a second consecutive start, it would be all the Jays would need in a big exhale of a win in the first of three in the Texas leg of their six-game road trip.
Kevin Gausman was solid from start to finish out- dueling Jacob deGrom
In going seven shutout innings, Gausman was brilliant for a second consecutive start, allowing five hits over a stellar eight innings of work.
Gausman's splitter was money for a second consecutive start, stymieing Rangers hitters with its nasty downward break all game long. He was in the zone throughout, dealing 72 strikes from his 96 innings.
Gausman, who has not walked a batter since May 3 pitched eight complete for the second time this season.
Another source of relief came from ace reliever - closer Jeff Hoffman, who had struggled lately. Hoffman served up a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his 11th save of the season.
snapping a three-game losing streak had to feel significant for this team, which improved to 26-27 and can at least exhale.
After being humiliated with an embarrassing offensive output in Tampa on the weekend in which they were outscored 19-2 by the Rays in that miserable three-game sweep the Blue Jays needed to bounce back in a bad way.
Facing a struggling Texas team losers of six of their previous seven games proved to be the answer as the underwhelming Toronto offence remained mostly impotent facing the stout test of Rangers starter Jacob deGrom.
As they say, a win is a win of course, however leaving two runners on in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings allowed the Rangers to remain in the game and further accentuated their struggles at the plate.
| POLL | ||
MAI 27 | 147 ANSWERS Blue Jays' Gausman great through eight but Varsho's big bat seals the deal in slim win over Rangers Do you think Daulton Varsho can hit 30 plus homeruns this season? | ||
| Yes | 116 | 78.9 % |
| No | 19 | 12.9 % |
| Too early to tell | 12 | 8.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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