{"id":51056,"date":"2025-08-07T03:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T03:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/51056\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T03:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T03:15:09","slug":"blue-jays-obliterate-rockies-again-to-set-club-record-for-runs-hits-in-a-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/51056\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays obliterate Rockies again to set club record for runs, hits in a series"},"content":{"rendered":"

DENVER \u2014 Back on June 19, a rough outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks left Kevin Gausman<\/a> especially frustrated. The Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> had a chance to sweep a three-game series that day, but the veteran right-hander fell behind early and couldn\u2019t escape the fifth, leaving behind a 7-1 deficit in an eventual 9-5 loss. He\u2019d 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 \u2014 the primary issue he identified.\u00a0\u201cI’m primarily a two-pitch guy, so if one of those pitches isn’t hitting,\u201d he explained, \u201cI’m going to be a lot easier to game-plan against.\u201d<\/p>\n

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. \u201cThat was me trying to do too much, trying to make a split move, trying to make a slider move,\u201d he said. \u201cWhereas when I keep my head there, I’m going to throw the ball in the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, he focused on some physical cues to help him \u201cstay within the door frame\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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<\/a>, allowing one run on three hits over seven dominant innings as the Blue Jays completed a remarkably one-sided three-game sweep.<\/p>\n

A three-run homer by Bo Bichette<\/a> \u2014 extending his hit streak to seven games and giving him nine RBIs over the three games \u2014 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\u2019s RBI single, four more in the sixth including Davis Schneider\u2019s solo shot, two more in the eighth, one of them when Vladimir Guerrero Jr.<\/a> went deep, and eight more in the ninth, three on Schneider\u2019s second homer of the game, when catcher Austin Nola was pitching.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels great,\u201d Guerrero said through interpreter Hector Lebron. \u201cEverybody’s doing their part, offence has been great. We’ve got to play everybody hard and we showed that the past three days.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The result could be Exhibit A in the case for a mercy rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a baseball player, we’ve all been through those games, that’s just how it goes sometimes,\u201d said Ty France, who reached base six times on four hits and two hit-by-pitches, scored four times and drove in a run. \u201cWhen 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Rockies (30-84), seemingly destined to challenge the 2024 Chicago White Sox\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt builds some momentum and some confidence, especially after a tough two series,\u201d said manager John Schneider. \u201cIt’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.\u201d<\/p>\n

As good as the three days in Denver\u2019s thin air were for the offence, they were similarly good for the pitching staff ahead of a potentially taxing three-game stretch.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cPitching here in front of friends and family, coaches, people who have seen me from when I first started, is pretty cool,\u201d said Gausman. \u201cUnfortunately, there aren’t many guys from Denver, specifically, so it’s always fun, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he did give up the game\u2019s opening run, when\u00a0Ezequiel 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Gausman said. \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gausman\u2019s got hitters there once again and it\u2019s turning out to be right where he wants them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 Back on June 19, a rough outing against the Arizona Diamondbacks left Kevin Gausman especially frustrated.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":51057,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-51056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51056\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/51057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}