Kevin Gausman delivers best start of 2025 against Yankees when Jays needed him most

The Toronto Blue Jays have been at the head of the AL East division since the beginning of July. Now with September here the Blue Jays needed to win games against top teams to show they're a serious contender. September began with a rough 5-4 loss against the Cincinnati Reds who were fighting for a Wild Card spot.

Then, the Blue Jays won the next two games to take the series against the Reds in Cincinnati. Which proved to be big considering the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox continued to remain close in the standings. But with the Reds series over, the Blue Jays have a chance to create some real separation as they began a three game series against the Yankees in the Bronx on Friday.

Gausman delivers best start of 2025

Yesterday, Kevin Gausman got the start for the Blue Jays at Yankee Stadium matching up against Cam Schlittler. The Blue Jays took the crowd out of the game early, scoring three runs off Schlittler in the first inning. All three runs the Blue Jays scored were with two outs. The Blue Jays eventually knocked Schlitter out of the game in the second inning.

With an early three-run lead, Gausman dominated the Yankees, pitching eight innings, allowing just one run on four hits with five strikeouts. It was the third time all year in which Gausman pitched eight innings, and he consistently got quality outs in the middle part of the game, finishing with 105 pitches.

Gausman allowed one run on a Giancarlo Stanton solo home run in the second inning. The biggest moment from Gausman came when he got out of a seventh inning jam. He allowed a leadoff single to Aaron Judge, who was then erased at second on a fielders choice by Cody Bellinger. Stanton then ripped a single to left field, bringing up Jazz Chisholm Jr. with two men on and one out.

Chisholm is hitting just .211/.348/.395 against the Blue Jays this season but he has two big home runs in the ten head-to-head matchups. So when Gausman struck him out on four pitches, it was a massive out for the veteran right-hander. That brought up Paul Goldschmidt who Gausman got to fly out to right field for the third and final out of the inning.

With their 7-1 win in the Bronx, the Blue Jays improved to 82-59 on the season and extended their division lead on the Yankees to four games. The Blue Jays guaranteed themselves to not be tied with the Yankees at the end of the series even if they lose the next two games. That's thanks to the bulldog effort from Gausman who picked up his ninth win of the season and saved the Blue Jays bullpen from having to cover more than one inning.