This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

There’s an intensity to Chris Bassitt. It’s part of what makes him good.

At times, this comes out on the field. Bassitt isn’t shy about making his feelings known on the mound, and during a particularly frustrating moment a week ago, a dugout iPad took the brunt of it.

Bassitt can be one of the Blue Jays’ most interesting players, though, with insights on not just his eight-pitch repertoire, but the art of pitching and broader topics this team faces. The 34-year-old righty has a knack for timing, too.

The Blue Jays rolled into Pittsburgh this weekend on a five-game losing streak, fresh off a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox. It was as ugly as it sounds. Bassitt was the stopper, throwing seven scoreless innings while doing a good job of managing the running game, which is the Pirates’ biggest strength.

Here’s what Bassitt had to say about that and much more:

A matter of pride

Pittsburgh handed the Blue Jays three blatant outs on the bases Friday after its running game was a major focus coming in. When Bassitt was asked about the pride he takes in controlling that phase of the game, though, he paused.

“To me … how do I say this … To me, I don’t take pride in myself, I take pride because I know the stats go against the catcher,” Bassitt said. “So many times, you see so many stolen bases, and in Boston, I think that’s the worst thing we did in the whole series, just how many stolen bases we gave up. So many of them were not on the catchers, they were on the pitcher. To control the running game, you have to take a lot of pride in it because it’s not just our stats.

“Yes, the earned runs are our stats, but when you don’t give the catcher a chance, I know it makes them pretty mad. We’ve got to take pride in it.”

That’s something catchers will love, and a point that needs to be considered more often. When we see a catcher with a low caught-stealing rate, it could be due to a poor throwing arm, but that can’t be the immediate and automatic conclusion.

Getting comfortable

Bassitt seems to be finding a groove lately. The walks are still there, which is unlike Bassitt, but as a pitcher and a person, he seems to be settling in.

“We’re in a really good spot right now of trusting each other and understanding each other,” Bassitt said. “There’s so many details behind the scenes that people don’t really understand, from the weight room to medical care in between starts. We’re all learning each other. Nothing has changed, it’s just a matter of getting used to each other. I think we’ve done a really good job here. I’m beyond blessed to be a part of this team that has a core of guys who are super hungry.”

Bassitt paused again and added one more thought.

“It’s a pretty awesome feeling to know you made the right decision to come here. That’s pretty cool.”

Praise for his teammates

Bassitt has been around. He knows what good and bad team construction looks like. He prefers this version, with a stacked young core surrounded by veterans. Bassitt singled out George Springer and Brandon Belt, in particular.

“We have so much trust in our veteran guys to step up when we need them to step up,” Bassitt said. “They can go two weeks without getting a hit, and I don’t think there’s much thought about it. It’s just like, ‘OK, when is George going to carry us? When is Belt going to carry us? When are all of these guys going to carry us?’ Then you have Vladdy [Guerrero Jr.] and Bo [Bichette], who are young and doing what they do, trying to win MVPs. We have an unbelievable group.”