Gausman regains velocity but makes quick exit

The velocity was back, but the same could not be said about the quality and location of his stuff as Blue Jays right-hander Kevin Gausman was sent to the showers early for the second consecutive start.

Gausman experienced a severe drop in velocity during his last outing against the Yankees. Six days later, the zip on his fastball and splitter was back but there were far too many hittable pitches left up in the zone.

Making his third appearance of the season after being limited to just one outing in the spring, Gausman was torched for six runs on 10 hits across 3 2⁄3 innings in a 12-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies on Friday night at the Rogers Centre.

Alarm bells went off during Gausman’s last start against the Yankees when he averaged just 90.8 m.p.h. on his fastball, down from 94.7 in his season debut. He experienced similar dips on his splitter and slider en route to giving up six runs in 1 ⅓ innings, his shortest outing since joining the Jays.

Friday’s outing wasn’t any better, but for entirely different reasons. Cold temperatures played a role in New York but that wasn’t a problem under the roof. Gausman’s lack of execution might be blamed on a limited buildup to the season.

Gausman surrendered one run in the second inning on an RBI double by Brendan Rodgers. The Rockies added two more RBI doubles in the third as a part of a three-run inning before Kris Bryant chased Gausman in the fourth with a two-run double to left-centre.

Gausman has surrendered 12 earned runs in 9 ⅓ innings this season.

Daulton Varsho and Isiah KinerFalefa were responsible for two of Jays’ runs with a pair of solo homers, Kevin Kiermaier had his first multi-hit game of the season and Cavan Biggio had an RBI single as the last-place Jays dropped to 6-8.