OAKLAND — In his two brief-yet-impactful seasons with the Giants, Kevin Gausman fully realized his potential and transformed into one of baseball’s better pitchers. He became an All-Star. He earned Cy Young votes. But there was one box he never quite checked: a shutout.
In his first start back in the Bay Area since his days in San Francisco, Gausman crossed that accomplishment off his to-do list. The former Giant recorded the first career shutout, striking out 10 batters in a dominant performance as the A’s lost to the Blue Jays, 7-0, on Saturday at the Coliseum.
While Gausman was efficient, Oakland’s Luis Medina walked five batters and allowed six earned runs across 4 2/3 innings. For Medina, Saturday’s start marked the fourth time in 19 career starts that he’s walked at least five batters.
Medina didn’t have a feel for the zone from the jump.
In the first inning, Medina walked Spencer Horwitz, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Bo Bichette to load the bases. Danny Jansen drove in Horwitz with a sacrifice fly to the left-field warning track, Toronto’s first first-inning run since May 4. Medina pitched a scoreless second but walked a batter.
Medina appeared to find his groove following the second, retiring the side in the third and fourth, but the right-hander would be pulled before finishing the fifth.
Kevin Kiermaier disrupted Medina’s rhythm with a no-doubt solo home run on the first pitch of the fifth inning. Medina recorded two quick outs following Kiermaier’s homer, but Toronto’s offense erupted.
With two outs, Guerrero, Bichette, and Jansen generated two runs on back-to-back-to-back doubles. Medina exited the ballgame after walking Daniel Vogelbach, his fifth and final free pass of the afternoon.
Jack O’Loughlin entered for Medina and initially had his own command issues. The southpaw walked Daulton Varsho, gave up an RBI single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa, and then allowed Vogelbach to score on a wild pitch. By the end of the inning, the Blue Jays had a 6-0 lead — plenty of run support for Gausman.
Mitch Spence (4-3, 3.86 ERA) will take the mound on Sunday as the A’s go for the series victory.
