Gausman dominates again, strikes out 10

SAN FRANCISCO -- After capturing National League Pitcher of the Month honors in May, Kevin Gausman is off to a pretty good start in June.

Gausman continued to dominate in the Giants’ 4-3 win over the Cubs on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park, allowing only two unearned runs over seven innings to lower his ERA to 1.27, the third-lowest mark among qualified Major League starters this year.

Gausman struck out 10, walked none and allowed only two hits: a two-run home run to Patrick Wisdom and a single to Chicago right-hander Kohl Stewart. All 10 of Gausman’s strikeouts came on his devastating splitter, which induced 16 of his 21 whiffs, the most by a right-hander against the Cubs this year.

His four-seam fastball averaged 95.3 mph and topped out at 98 mph, a slight uptick from his first 11 starts of the year.

“His split was awesome today,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “There was a good bit of swing-and-miss against a really tough top of that lineup. Obviously, we all saw him come out with some of his best fastball velocity that he’s had all season. He was able to maintain it throughout the outing and then just really emptied the tank there in the seventh.”

The Giants took a 4-2 lead into the top of the ninth, but the situation quickly turned dicey as a result of shaky defense around the infield. After Rafael Ortega reached on an error by second baseman Mauricio Dubón, Kris Bryant hit a potential double-play ball up the middle that was fielded by shortstop Brandon Crawford. Crawford flipped the ball to Dubón to record the forceout at second, but Dubón bobbled the exchange and couldn’t get a throw off to first.

After Javier Báez singled to put runners on the corners with one out, Crawford and Evan Longoria collided while trying to field a grounder from Anthony Rizzo, allowing Bryant to score from third to cut the Giants’ lead to 4-3. Longoria was shaken up on the play and departed with a left shoulder injury, but closer Tyler Rogers subsequently struck out Willson Contreras and retired Jason Heyward on a groundout to seal the win.

“Torture baseball,” catcher Chadwick Tromp said. “There’s no better way to explain it. It was a rollercoaster ride, but at the end of the day, we have a group of guys that are calm and collected. For us, there was never a doubt that we were going to get the job done.”

After taking the first three games of this four-game series, the Giants clinched a series victory over Chicago and improved to a Major League-best 37-21. They’ll send Johnny Cueto to the mound on Sunday as they aim to sweep the Cubs, who had won nine of their previous 10 games before rolling into San Francisco.

Chicago took an early lead against Gausman by capitalizing on a rare fielding error by Crawford, who allowed a ground ball off the bat of Rizzo to kick off his glove to start the top of the second. Three batters later, Wisdom crushed a misplaced fastball from Gausman into the Cubs bullpen in right-center field to put San Francisco in a 2-0 hole.

“They got lucky with that one, but he came back right away and did what he’s been doing all season,” Tromp said of Gausman. “None of us here are surprised that he was able to shake that off like it was nothing and come back and still shove.”

The Giants responded with a third-inning solo shot from Alex Dickerson, who drove a sinker from Stewart out to the opposite field for his second homer in as many days. For the second consecutive day, the Giants also received key contributions from their bench, as Tromp and LaMonte Wade Jr. delivered a pair of RBI singles to put San Francisco ahead, 3-2, in the fourth.

Crawford later repented for his defensive miscue by supplying an insurance run on an RBI double off the right-field wall in the fifth. Crawford also made his 1,325th career appearance at shortstop on Saturday, tying Hall of Famer Travis Jackson for the most in franchise history.

Gausman fired six scoreless innings against the Dodgers in his last start on Sunday, but he departed after throwing only 72 pitches after experiencing tightness in his left hip. Gausman has been managing the issue for several weeks, but he said he didn’t plan to miss a start and returned to the mound as expected on Saturday.

He looked unencumbered against the Cubs, retiring the final 15 batters he faced after giving up the leadoff single to Stewart in the third.

“I felt pretty good today,” Gausman said. “I’m going to keep staying on top of treatment and just keep staying on top of it, really. But I felt pretty good today. I didn’t have to field any bunts, and I only really had to get over [to first base] one time and Wade pushed me off. That might have had something to do with it, too, but it felt better today than it has, for sure.”

If Gausman can stay healthy and sustain his success, more accolades are likely to come his way, including a possible appearance at the 2021 All-Star Game, which will be held in his hometown of Denver next month.

“I think it's a no-doubter that he'll be there,” right-hander Logan Webb said on Friday. “He was amazing last month. He was amazing the month before, and he was amazing last year. I can almost guarantee that he's going to keep being amazing.”