SAN DIEGO – With their season on the line, the Cubs are turning to the guy who pitched in the World Series last fall.
Kevin Gausman will get the ball in Game 2 on Wednesday night, announced as the Cubs’ starting pitcher after an ugly 8-0 loss in the first contest of their best-of-three playoff series against the Padres.
Gausman was the headlining acquisition of the Cubs’ trade-deadline haul, arriving in a win-now deal with a mile-long track record of major league success and recent experience pitching under baseball’s brightest lights. He pitched in six playoff games for the Blue Jays last postseason, including making two starts in the World Series.
After he banged his left shoulder while making a diving tag play in the final week of the regular season, his ability to pitch in this opening-round series has been a hot topic. But manager Craig Counsell said Monday that Gausman would pitch, in some fashion, in the series and announced the righty as the Game 2 starter Tuesday night.
In the week since he departed a game against the Marlins with the injury, Gausman has been open about his uncertainty that his shoulder would be in good enough shape for him to pitch, and his honest uncertainty about how things will go carried over into the night before his next playoff outing.
“We’re going to find out,” he said after Tuesday’s game, asked how his shoulder was feeling. “It feels all right, good enough to go out there and give it everything I’ve got. That’s what I’m going to do.
“I’ve had shoulder injuries before, but it’s always been the right one. This one’s been a little bit different. I’ve been trying to feel out the movements and what I’m, maybe, going to have to change a little bit out there to be able to do what I want to do.
“I feel good enough to go out there. I don’t know if I felt this way a couple days ago.”
In addition to his questionable health over the last week, Gausman has spent his time in a Cubs uniform bouncing back and forth between terrific starts and subpar ones. He posted a 4.83 ERA in nine regular-season outings for the Cubs, allowing 10 earned runs in 15 1/3 innings across his last three trips to the mound.
He’ll face the challenge of a red-hot Padres lineup that hit three homers off lefty Matthew Boyd on Tuesday night and sent the Cubs to a blowout defeat.
His playoff experience has been lauded since he joined the team in August, but Gausman – who was acquired to pitch in moments like these – has just one shot to keep the Cubs’ season alive Wednesday.
“You try to treat it like a normal game,” he said. “You really can’t when they’re waving towels out there. But you try to stay in the moment and trust yourself and trust the team behind you.”