Toronto Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman cracked a couple of superstitious cold ones and found himself off the hook for an uncommonly sloppy outing on Sunday.
After Gausman left his teammates with a five-run deficit, Cavan Biggio's three-run homer in the eighth inning completed a 7-6 comeback win for the Toronto Blue Jays against the Minnesota Twins before 41,673 at Rogers Centre.
The tide began to turn when Gausman retired to the trainer's room inside the Blue Jays clubhouse and opened a beer.
"There were some nervous sips, but we kept going, so I opened another one," Gausman confessed.
"It's rally beers, and sometimes this happens. Like I said, it's superstition."
The Twins roughed up Gausman with a four-run first inning and two more in the fifth inning.
But Matt Chapman's two-run homer in a three-run fifth inning ignited the Blue Jays' comeback.
"A lot of pitches, too many walks and too many three and two counts," Gausman said. "Obviously, I wasn't very sharp."
The right-hander lasted 4 2/3 innings, having thrown 101 pitches. Gausman surrendered six runs on seven hits, four walks and had four strikeouts.
He was also bailed out by three Toronto double plays in the first four innings.
Alejandro Kirk and Santiago Espinal led off the eighth inning with singles before Biggio blasted his fifth homer of the year to right-centre field off reliever Emilio Pagan (3-1).
The light-hitting Biggio entered the game with a .172 average. He also singled and scored to start Toronto's rally in the fifth and made a timely diving catch in the eighth to snuff out a promising inning for the Twins.
"I kind of knew off the bat that was gonna go," Biggio said.
"In general, with the bats that I get, just sparingly, I need to take advantage of my opportunity. So I have to be more aggressive and try to make things happen more often."
With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. taking a turn as the designated hitter, Biggio found himself at first base because of an injury to Brandon Belt, who is day-to-day with a sore left hamstring.
The win marked the end of 30 games in 31 days for the Blue Jays (37-30). They went 16-14 and defeated the Twins (33-33) in the series finale after dropping the first two games.
Toronto closer Jordan Romano earned his 18th save, and Nate Pearson (4-0) recorded the win for his two innings of relief.
Quebec City native Edouard Julien led off the game with a double past Biggio.
A pair of walks, another double to right field from Alex Kirilloff and singles from Trevor Larnach and Royce Lewis pushed across the four runs in the eight-batter inning.
The Blue Jays scored once in their half of the first. George Springer led off with a single and then advanced to third base on Guerrero's hit to centre before scoring on Chapman's sacrifice fly.
Minnesota increased its lead to 6-1 in the fifth inning with Donovan Solano's solo shot to centre field and another RBI single from Lewis.
In the bottom of the fifth, Biggio singled and later scored on a throwing error from shortstop Carlos Correa. Chapman then hit a two-out, two-run homer to left field with Guerrero on base.
That was the final pitch for Twins starter Louie Varland. He struck out six in his 4 2/3 innings, walked two, and gave up four runs on six hits.
There was a lengthy delay in the fourth inning when home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt left the game after being hit in the left arm by a Daulton Varsho foul tip.
ROSTER MOVE
A day after pitching a strong 2 2/3 innings, Toronto optioned pitcher Bowden Francis to Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday. Thomas Hatch was promoted to give the Blue Jays a fresh arm in the bullpen.
Hatch replaced Gausman with two out and two on in the fifth inning, yielding a run-scoring single to centre.
ON DECK
The Blue Jays have Monday off but return to action on Tuesday for a three-game set in Baltimore against the Orioles.
Toronto starter Chris Bassitt (7-4) will face Orioles righty Dean Kremer (6-3) in the opener.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 11, 2023.
Tim Wharnsby, The Canadian Press