After tough loss ahead of trade deadline, Gausman says he doesn’t want to leave Toronto on sour note

Kevin Gausman hopes that wasn’t his final time pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.

Gausman pitched 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs — four earned — on nine hits and two walks as Toronto fell to the Tampa Bay Rays 12-2 on Tuesday. Gausman’s number will come up twice more in the Blue Jays’ rotation before Major League Baseball’s trade deadline on Aug. 3, with his next start likely coming in Boston on July 26.

“Not a great lasting impression,” said Gausman. “I’m not going to think about that too much because I’m a Blue Jay right now, and the focus is this team and this room and those guys. That’s where my mind’s at right now.

“But yeah, that is kind of crazy to think about.”

Gausman signed a five-year, $110-million US deal with Toronto on Dec. 21, 2021 and has been one of the Blue Jays’ most reliable starters for five seasons. He has a 52-50 record in that span with a 3.60 earned-run average and 910 strikeouts.

The 35-year-old right-hander has scuffled to a 4-9 record and 4.51 ERA this season with 117 strikeouts. Despite those struggles, Gausman could be an attractive addition for a contending team.

“I think it’s impossible to ignore nowadays with social media,” said Gausman about Toronto’s struggles with the deadline looming. “We kind of all know it’s going on, and, unfortunately, we knew we kind of needed to come out of the gate strong, and we really haven’t.

“We just haven’t played very well lately.”

Jays expected to be sellers as trade deadline looms

Less than a year removed from reaching Game 7 of the World Series, it appears that Toronto will be a seller at the trade deadline.

The Blue Jays (46-55) have lost three in a row and are fifth in the American League East, six games out of a wild-card berth. Toronto’s 400 runs scored are the fewest in MLB.

Gausman said some of the Blue Jays’ offensive struggles are due simply to bad luck.

“Feels like every hard-hit ball on our side is right at somebody, and maybe on the other side not so much,” said Gausman, who could potentially start on Aug. 1 in Toronto against the St. Louis Cardinals, if the Blue Jays have not traded him or rest him to protect a potential deal. “We just haven’t been playing very clean baseball, you know, especially on the defensive side.”

“I think the guys are putting pressure on themselves in the batter’s box, and the pitching in this league is really good, so it’s hard.”

Manager John Schneider couldn’t hide his disappointment after the lopsided loss to the American East-leading Rays (58-42). Tampa Bay outhit Toronto 21-7 and could have done even more damage, leaving 11 runners on base.

“You’re trying to just piece things, piece innings, together,” said Schneider. “Try to stay in it as much as you can without jeopardizing things moving forward.

“It was a frustrating day from the get go.”