PHOENIX – Kevin Gausman was lights out Monday.
The right-hander showed why he was the Cubs’ headlining trade-deadline acquisition with seven shutout innings against a Diamondbacks team that’s been one of baseball’s best since early July.
It was a solid bounce-back statement in the immediate wake of Gausman failing to make it out of the fifth inning in back-to-back starts.
Of course, Gausman didn’t need one outing in August to show the Cubs what he’s capable of. He’s been doing big things for a long time, a veteran of 14 major league seasons fresh off a starring role in last year’s postseason, when he put up a 2.93 ERA in six playoff outings, including a pair in the World Series.
That’s where the Cubs hope to get this fall, and in Gausman, they’ve got someone they believe can help them achieve their championship-level goals.
“I’m really glad we got Gaus because my numbers against him are terrible,” designated hitter Michael Conforto joked after Monday’s game. “He’s such a good pitcher. He reads swings so well. He has great command. That splitter is devastating. And then he has the postseason pedigree and experience. He knows what those feelings and those situations are like.”
Conforto didn’t play in last year’s postseason, but he was part of the Dodgers team that edged Gausman’s Blue Jays in the Fall Classic.
He watched Gausman hold that juggernaut Dodgers lineup to just three runs in a pair of starts, pitching deep into both games, something of a rarity in the all-hands-on-deck world of playoff pitching.
“I watched the way the Dodgers tried to prepare for him,” Conforto said, “and he diced them up and pitched really well against those guys last year.
“He’s a huge addition for this team and a great presence.”
As the Cubs eye a run all the way to the end of October, Gausman is an essential piece of the puzzle.
“He’s been there and done it,” left fielder Ian Happ said Tuesday. “He knows what the emotions are like. He knows how to handle it. He knows what pitching in those moments, in those spots, looks like.
“As a teammate, you trust the player, because the resume and the back of the baseball card is so impressive.”
It’s no wonder Jed Hoyer got aggressive and parted with prospects to add this guy at the deadline.
“He’s a true pro,” catcher Carson Kelly said. “And he wants the ball. You can see that. Every inning, it seems like he gets stronger and stronger. That’s something that our guys can really look at and build off of.”
PCA oh-fer doesn’t slow Cubs’ offense
For just the third time this season, center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong had an 0-for-5 night Monday.
But it didn’t prevent the Cubs from having a big offensive game, scoring seven times.
It showed there’s plenty more to this lineup beyond the MVP candidate at the top, a preview of how it expects to win in October.
“They’re just relentless, from 1 through 9,” Gausman said of the Cubs’ lineup. “You try to let up, and then you’ve got a guy like Pedro Ramirez coming up. He’s hitting [close to] .300. There’s no gaps in this lineup.”
“We can do it in so many different ways,” Happ said, “so you’re not relying on one thing, one person, to get the job done.”
Two-out kings
The Cubs came into Tuesday leading baseball with 274 runs scored and a .757 OPS with two outs.
A whopping 20 of 26 runs the team scored in blowout wins Sunday and Monday came with two outs.