Gausman unravels so badly it's now Blue Jays history after blowout loss to Yankees

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Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman made franchise history on Sunday afternoon in the Bronx.

And it wasn’t pretty.

There was the 53-pitch, five-walk inning. There was an ejection after letting home plate umpire Chris Conroy what he thought of his interpretation of the strike zone. And then there was a tumble down the dugout steps as he exited the game in anger after just 2 2/3 innings of work.

Yes, Gausman’s latest outing unravelled in the most frustrating way possible in a blowout defeat in the first game of a doubleheader against the American League East rival New York Yankees.

The veteran Toronto right-hander’s disastrous third inning allowed the Yankees to score six runs and propelled them to a laugher of a lopsided 11-2 win, evening the three-game weekend series at one win apiece.

That total pitch count matched a club record for the most thrown in an inning by a Toronto hurler as what had been a solid-looking first couple of innings reversed course in a hurry.

There were certainly some command issues for Gausman, who just missed with a handful of pitches and then became increasingly irate at Conroy. After allowing a base-clearing double to Austin Wells (which followed three straight walks to Yankees batters), Gausman’s day was done as manager John Schneider replaced him with rookie Paxton Schultz.

On his way to the visitor’s dugout, though, Gausman erupted at Conroy and fumed his way off the field, leading to a slip down the dugout steps.

Afterward, Gausman told reporters that there were “at least three pitches that inning that I knew were strikes.” While there were some borderline calls to be sure, the biggest factor was Gausman missing his spots repeatedly, a shortcoming he acknowledged.

Gausman would soon have company in the Toronto clubhouse after manager Schneider was ejected in the fifth inning for arguing a strike call to Jays first baseman Vlad Guerrero Jr. Schneider got his money’s worth for that toss, however, as he stormed from the dugout and got in Conroy’s face to deliver a detailed and high-volume assessment of his work.

Meanwhile, the lack of command was uncharacteristic of Gausman, who had allowed just six walks in his five previous starts this season. Being forced to go to Schultz so early in the day was less than ideal for the Jays, as they are already reduced to four starters with the ongoing thumb issues sidelining veteran Max Scherzer.

Gausman’s 53 pitches matched the club record for a single inning previously held by Woody Williams in 1998. It’s rare for a pitcher to throw so many in one frame, obviously, but Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker clearly were willing to let their veteran attempt to work his way out of the struggles.

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Surprisingly, given how close attention the Jays pay to workloads of all of their pitchers, the only mound visit came when Schneider came out to remove Gausman from the game. Perhaps everyone in the Toronto dugout was stunned at the performance of one of their more reliable arms as Gausman had needed just 12 and six pitches, respectively, to retire the Yankees in the first and second innings.

Weirdly, Gausman began his fateful inning with an easy one-pitch pop-up by Jasson Dominguez. That was followed by a pair of walks, a sac fly, three more Yankees walks and Wells’s three-run double.

Things didn’t get much better for the Jays after Gausman was sent to the showers after 2 2/3 innings, by far his shortest outing of the season. To add further insult to the mess, those five walks also matched a franchise record for the most in an inning. And with a short outing and 71 total pitches, Gausman admitted it was a lot for any pitcher’s arm, especially given the shortage of reliable pitchers at the ready in the rotation.

The Jays have an off day on Monday before opening a homestand against the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday at the Rogers Centre.