Kevin Gausman pitched a four-hit game, his third complete game in 280 major league starts, and Daulton Varsho drove in four runs, including a three-run homer, to lead the Toronto Blue Jays to a 7-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday.
Gausman (9-8) won his third straight start and is now one of only two pitchers this season, along with Atlanta’s Max Fried, to have two complete games. Gausman, who had previously thrown a five-hit shutout against Oakland on June 8, struck out eight batters, walked three, and threw 118 pitches, his most since 2016. He threw 81 of those pitches for strikes.
“He just executed at an extremely high level,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “When his split is carrying the zone, you see the Cy Young Award candidate coming out.”
This was the 20th complete game in the majors this season and the first nine-inning complete game against Texas since José Suarez of the Los Angeles Angels did it on September 4, 2021.
Gausman’s first complete game was with Baltimore in 2014.
After giving up two runs in the third inning, Gausman struck out Nathaniel Lowe to end the inning and then retired the next 18 batters. Lowe walked with two outs in the ninth inning, and Jonah Heim flied out to end the game.
“He’s got great stuff,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said of Gausman. “He had a good split going, a good fastball, located well.”
Marcus Semien tripled in the first inning and scored on a wild pitch, while Wyatt Langford hit an RBI double in the third and scored on Adolis García’s single. Semien scored twice, but Texas lost its second game in a row after a five-game winning streak.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had three of Toronto’s 15 hits and scored three runs. Alejandro Kirk also had three hits and drove in a run for the Blue Jays, who won back-to-back games for the first time since July 10 and 11 at San Francisco.
