DENVER — Back on June 19, a rough outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks left Kevin Gausman especially frustrated. The Toronto Blue Jays had a chance to sweep a three-game series that day, but the veteran right-hander fell behind early and couldn’t escape the fifth, leaving behind a 7-1 deficit in an eventual 9-5 loss. He’d also left his team in a hole in his previous outing, surrendering four runs in an eventual 8-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, so demanding far better of himself, he got to working on fixing his fastball command — the primary issue he identified. “I’m primarily a two-pitch guy, so if one of those pitches isn’t hitting,” he explained, “I’m going to be a lot easier to game-plan against.”

The answer came in looking at his head movement and the way that led his fastball to miss the spots they were intended for. Typically, his head stays within a narrow three-inch range during his delivery, but in some outings, the variance was as high as 6.5 inches, causing his body to travel inconsistently down the mound after his leg kick. “That was me trying to do too much, trying to make a split move, trying to make a slider move,” he said. “Whereas when I keep my head there, I’m going to throw the ball in the zone.”

So, he focused on some physical cues to help him “stay within the door frame” as he came down the slope. He did dry work to repair the muscle memory, helping him keep everything aligned. The next start at Cleveland, he threw eight shutout innings of two-hit ball, beginning a six-start run in which he posted a 1.96 ERA over 36.2 innings. 

And after a blip outing Friday against the Kansas City Royals, when he allowed five runs in six innings of a 9-3 loss, Gausman was back in charge Wednesday during a 20-1 obliteration of the Colorado Rockies, allowing one run on three hits over seven dominant innings as the Blue Jays completed a remarkably one-sided three-game sweep.

A three-run homer by Bo Bichette — extending his hit streak to seven games and giving him nine RBIs over the three games — put the Blue Jays ahead in the third inning, and they just kept pouring it on from there. They scored three in the fifth on a two-run Nathan Lukes triple and Tyler Heineman’s RBI single, four more in the sixth including Davis Schneider’s solo shot, two more in the eighth, one of them when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went deep, and eight more in the ninth, three on Schneider’s second homer of the game, when catcher Austin Nola was pitching.

“It feels great,” Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. “Everybody’s doing their part, offence has been great. We’ve got to play everybody hard and we showed that the past three days.”

In improving to 68-48, the Blue Jays outscored the Rockies 45-6 and collected 63 hits during the sweep, establishing new franchise records for most runs and hits in a three-game series (the 63 hits are also a Modern Era baseball record). They scored 40 runs and had 51 hits during a July 22-24, 2022 series at Boston.

The result could be Exhibit A in the case for a mercy rule.

“As a baseball player, we’ve all been through those games, that’s just how it goes sometimes,” said Ty France, who reached base six times on four hits and two hit-by-pitches, scored four times and drove in a run. “When you’re on this side and things are rolling it’s fun baseball. I’ve noticed with this group since I’ve been here that they’re all playing for each other. I’m excited to be a part of that.”

The Rockies (30-84), seemingly destined to challenge the 2024 Chicago White Sox’s record of 121 losses, offer up a lot of good hitting, but after a 2-5 week at Baltimore and versus the Royals last week, the outburst is perhaps the reset the Blue Jays needed before a challenging week ahead. 

After an off-day Thursday, they begin a three-game set at the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers before returning home to host the Cubs and Rangers.

“It builds some momentum and some confidence, especially after a tough two series,” said manager John Schneider. “It’s nice to really see them play the way they did and especially today, after you won the first two, it’s a quick turnaround and it’s a veteran pitcher. I thought they handled the day and the series really, really well. It was fun to watch.”

As good as the three days in Denver’s thin air were for the offence, they were similarly good for the pitching staff ahead of a potentially taxing three-game stretch.

Gausman, essentially pitching at home as a native of Centennial, Colo., pitched at least seven innings for the sixth time this season while countering Denver native Kyle Freeland. The two chatted about the matchup on Tuesday, a couple local matching up at Coors Field, and he savoured the experience.

“Pitching here in front of friends and family, coaches, people who have seen me from when I first started, is pretty cool,” said Gausman. “Unfortunately, there aren’t many guys from Denver, specifically, so it’s always fun, for sure.”

Though he did give up the game’s opening run, when Ezequiel Tovar ripped a splitter that leaked back over the plate for an RBI double, he kept the Rockies under this thumb, striking out eight. Like Jose Berrios on Tuesday, he made an early adjustment to focus on finishing pitches down, to avoid certain pitches flattening out in the altitude.

“I learned the first inning that I can’t throw that split there to Tovar, I’ve just got to try to bounce every split and after the first inning that’s what I tried to do,” Gausman said. “I didn’t necessarily do it sometimes, but I had a really good fastball today, as well, and I was throwing strikes. Those things allowed me to kind of get away with some metrically, maybe, not so great splits. When you’re ahead in the count, guys are going to be swinging.”

Gausman’s got hitters there once again and it’s turning out to be right where he wants them.