HOT TIP? Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman chased early in wild-card opener as Twins seemed on to him
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The Minnesota Twins certainly appear to be deep inside the head of Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman.
In fact, perhaps there’s even more to it than that as the American League Central champs continue to outfox the Toronto ace..
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Gausman was chased early by the Twins in Tuesday’s opener of a best-of-three wildcard series game at Target Field in Minneapolis, leading to suggestions that the Jays ace was tipping his pitches.
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And not for the first time with the Twins and other opponents.
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The Twins, who manipulated three walks from the right hander in the first seven batters he faced and hit a couple of home runs to jump out to a 3-0 lead, seemed to clearly be on to something.
Gausman, so good for the Jays this season in leading the AL in strikeouts, has struggled with the Twins over the past two seasons.
And after a particularly troublesome regular-season start in 2022 relayed his theory.
“Some of their guys just laid off some really good (splitters) that I was just flabbergasted that they didn’t swing at,” Gausman said after a start in June of 2022 when he lasted just four innings in an 8-6 loss to the Twins.
On Tuesday, as the Jays were looking to jump out to an early series lead, was there more of the same?
Working on the ESPN broadcast in the U.S., analyst and former big league star Alex Rodriguez suggested that Gausman was once again tipping his pitches.
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Whether that was the case or not, the Twins have always had a patient approach against Gausman and Tuesday was no different. The lanky right-hander threw 27 pitches in the first inning and had ran his pitch count up to 60 after three innings.
Gausman appeared to get things in order in the fourth, striking out the side but was replaced by reliever Erik Swanson.
The Jays coaching staff and video crew has been aware of the Gausman issues in the past and worked on addressing it. The Twins, however, seem to have as keen an eye as any other opponent when it comes to figuring out Gausman.
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