TORONTO (AP) — Kevin Gausman pitched seven solid innings for his first victory of the season, and the Toronto Blue Jays stopped the Los Angeles Dodgers’ six-game win streak with a 3-1 victory on Sunday.
Alejandro Kirk went 3 for 3 for Toronto, hitting his first homer of the season in the second. He was mired in an 0-for-11 slide coming into the day.
The Blue Jays had lost a season-high five straight games.
“To not get swept is huge,” Gausman said.
Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani hit a deep drive to center field in his first at-bat against Gausman, but Toronto’s Daulton Varsho made a leaping catch on the warning track before slamming into the fence.
Blue Jays right fielder George Springer made a sensational diving catch on Andy Pages’ liner for the first out of the ninth.
“We kind of played with our hair on fire today,” Gausman said.
Freddie Freeman hit a solo homer for the Dodgers, his second, but Los Angeles couldn’t complete back-to-back sweeps. The NL West leaders won three straight at Washington last week before crossing the border into Canada.
Varsho and Isiah Kiner-Falefa had run-scoring groundouts for the Blue Jays, who improved to 4-12 when scoring three or fewer runs.
Gausman (1-3) allowed five hits, including Freeman’s two-out homer in the sixth.
“He just located his pitches very well today,” Freeman said of Gausman. “When you can locate fastballs, it doesn’t matter how hard you throw or how many times you do it, it’s a good pitch.”
Gausman struck out five and walked none.
“I thought my fastball played up today against them,” he said. “I think they weren’t expecting me to throw as many fastballs as I did.”
Toronto’s Yimi García walked ninth-place hitter Austin Barnes to begin the eighth, and Mookie Betts followed with a double. García got Ohtani to pop up and Freeman was walked intentionally to load the bases before Teoscar Hernández struck out.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he didn’t fault Ohtani for swinging at a high fastball on the second pitch of his at-bat.
“It was a ball up in the zone that I thought he could drive and he just missed it,” Roberts said. “That’s baseball.”
Left-hander Tim Mayza came on and retired Max Muncy on a fly ball to the warning track in right-center.
“I got a pitch to hit,” Muncy said. “I can’t really say I missed it, I just hit it too high.”
Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano worked the ninth for his fourth save in four chances.
Right-hander Michael Grove (0-1) opened for the Dodgers and exited after allowing three runs and three hits in the second, including Kirk’s two-out homer.
The three-run frame gave the Blue Jays their first lead since the fifth inning of Tuesday’s loss at Kansas City. For the Dodgers, it marked the first time they had trailed by multiple runs since a 6-4 loss to the Mets on April 20.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: LHP James Paxton (2-0, 2.61 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday as Los Angeles opens a three-game series at Arizona.
Blue Jays: RHP Yariel Rodríguez (0-1, 3.86 ERA) is expected to start Monday as Toronto hosts Kansas City.
___
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
