ST. PETERSBURG -- The Rays have given Kevin Gausman fits for much of his time as a Blue Jay.
But not on Tuesday night.
The right-hander rebounded from a tough start last week in Minnesota by dealing six innings of two-run ball at Tropicana Field. Gausman struck out three batters in Toronto's 4-3 loss to Tampa Bay, bringing him to 1,997 K’s for his career.
With three more strikeouts in his next start -- likely early next week at home against the Rays – Gausman will become the sixth active pitcher to reach 2,000 in his career, joining Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Chris Sale, Gerrit Cole and Yu Darvish. Gausman’s run to 2,000 has taken off since 2021. Since the beginning of that year, he has the second-most strikeouts in MLB (1,063). Only teammate Dylan Cease (1,162) is ahead of him
"Yeah, that would be cool," Gausman said. "I think, more than anything, it means that I'm old. I've been doing this for a while, that'll be a cool moment for sure. It's been a long time coming. There's been a couple starts here where I felt like I could get it, but just not striking anybody out. So hopefully we can get there next week."
Among teams Gausman has faced at least three times since joining Toronto in 2022, the Rays have given the 35-year-old his fourth-highest ERA at 4.17. But beyond allowing single runs in the third and fourth innings, Gausman was nails against the AL East nemesis.