AL WILD CARD SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS TWINS

October 3, 2023

Kevin Gausman

Target Field

Toronto Blue Jays

Postgame Press Conference

Twins - 3, Blue Jays - 1

Q. What's your assessment of how things unfolded out there for yourself today?

KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, I mean, obviously not one of my best starts of the year. Walking the lead-off hitter of the game is never how you want to start off. And looking back, obviously too many pitches thrown and too many deep counts. I made an adjustment in the third, but kind of too late at that point.

Q. Lewis is a really good hitter, obviously. What was your sense of what he was able to do against you at the plate today?

KEVIN GAUSMAN: I think, obviously, he went up there looking for fastballs and got them. In the first inning, I missed my spot by three and a half feet. Good hitters are going to make you pay for that.

Obviously he's hitting 3 hole for a reason. He's a good player.

Q. What did you make of the Twins game plan against you today? And did it differ at all from previous starts against them?

KEVIN GAUSMAN: No, not really. Obviously the book is out on me. I'm primarily a two-pitch guy. The goal is to eliminate my best pitch, which is my split.

So they had a really good plan against it. And, like I said, I made an adjustment, but I knew what they were doing early on but couldn't make the adjustment.

And, like I said, threw too many pitches, too many hitter's counts. Only gave up three hits but a lot of balls, not many strikes. The split wasn't carrying the zone as much as I would have liked. So obviously they kind of shut it down if it started low.

Q. Seemed early like you were battling the balls, throwing a lot away. What were you dealing with there?

KEVIN GAUSMAN: The balls have always been an issue, not just today, all year. Nothing new. But I got a ball that looked like it got grounded to second base. Those things can't happen in the postseason. But obviously it's whatever.

But I'm constantly throwing out balls. You just notice it because there's more boos.

Q. Where does the clubhouse go from here?

KEVIN GAUSMAN: I mean, obviously we've got to win tomorrow. Win and keep going. We've got to come in tomorrow and be ready to go. We're facing a really good pitcher. We've got Hosie going, so we're very confident. But obviously we need to balance back.

Q. After how you guys felt after the last Wild Card series, does that motivate you to not feel that way again?

KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, 100 percent. Obviously we're trying to win tomorrow to keep this thing going and have to. We know that. We've been in this situation last year. Last year we came out with our hair on fire the last year, too, in Game 2. Hopefully we can do that again.