Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
For Kevin Gausman, the Aug. 31 good news was also bad news.
“I kind of had packed up my stuff just in case, just to make it easier if I was to get traded,” Gausman said of a trade deadline that did not see him moved. “So that was the unfortunate thing: I had to unpack my stuff.”
A little bit extra work, but work he wanted to do.
Leading up to the deadline, the prized trade piece with electric stuff and a pact that expires at the end of the season publicly expressed his preference to stay in San Francisco, a club with which he has enjoyed playing and whose COVID-19 protocols he trusts.
He got his wish on a day that Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris endorsed the Giants, neither adding nor subtracting from a team they like. Gausman could stay, as could Johnny Cueto and Tony Watson and everyone else.
“I was definitely happy to be back here,” Gausman said over Zoom after pitching six strong innings in Monday’s 4-2 victory over the Diamondbacks at Oracle Park, upping the Giants to .500. “I just really love the guys and coming to the ballpark in a season where coming to the ballpark is kind of a headache certain days. These guys have made it just as normal as this can be.
“…More than anything, I just feel confident in our team. Knowing that I was coming back, it was kind of: All right, here we go, this is the team we got, and now we really can hone in on winning games.”
And they have, four out of six since the deadline and 13 out of 18 in total. They’re holding onto the eighth playoff seed, which would put them in line for a first-round matchup with the Dodgers. Gausman has been a key contributor, even as his results have not always matched the quality of his pitches. That wasn’t the case on Labor Day.
The 29-year-old admitted he did not have his best stuff — “It was a grind from the get-go” — and walked three. But he also surrendered just two hits and one run, his splitter disappearing in the twilight. For much of his start he was in the sun and the batter in the shadows, which helped him induce a Giants-season-best 20 swings and misses (14 on the splitter).
When you can strike out nine and baffle hitters through six innings that you feel off during, your stuff is pretty good.
“This season I’ve been really good at being able to put my fastball where I need to in big situations. Today I just didn’t really have that extra gear on my fastball, and I wasn’t able to put it where I normally am,” said Gausman, who recorded win No. 50 for his career. “We definitely had to mix a little bit more today, but those are the days that you got to be able to buckle down and get some big outs in big situations. But today was definitely not the crispest I’ve been this year.”
The Giants had to contend with the same difficult look out of Zac Gallen’s right hand, though it was dark in the sixth when they broke through with four runs in the deciding inning. Gausman was one frame better and can return to an apartment in which his clothes are out of his suitcase.
“He certainly had a lot of guts and a lot of grit and determination today,” Gabe Kapler said.