When Kevin Gausman left the mound after five no-hit innings and mentioned he had thrown his last pitch, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was trying to be careful about how he brought up the situation.
Fellow starter Chris Bassitt finally spoke up and told Gausman he was pitching a no-hitter.
Gausman was already aware that he hadn’t allowed a hit against the Texas Rangers on Thursday. The 33-year-old right-hander had been struggling with back spasms since he felt something unusual after his last warmup pitch before the game began.
“I really didn’t think today would be the day I would throw a no-hitter,” Gausman said. “Honestly, with how bad I felt physically, I’m surprised I didn’t give up any hits.”
Gausman (13-11) retired 15 of the 16 batters he faced, striking out the last two after walking Nathaniel Lowe on four pitches in the fifth inning of the Blue Jays’ 4-0 win.
He struck out six and threw 38 of his 58 pitches for strikes in his 30th start of the season.
“It was a strange day for me. I had a no-hitter going and I came out of the game, which is wild,” he said. “But you have to be smart about it. I’ve got one more start left, and I don’t want to go into the offseason with any injuries.”
R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle were the only pitchers to make 30 starts in each of their first three seasons with the Blue Jays before Gausman achieved that on Thursday. He also joined Dave Stieb (1983-85) as the only Toronto pitchers with at least 150 strikeouts in three consecutive seasons.
After getting through the first inning with only nine pitches, Gausman was able to go inside and stretch to relieve some of the pain.
