“If we don’t pitch well, we’ll probably lose” - Kevin Gausman opens up on Blue Jays struggles amid ongoing slump

Kevin Gausman was direct in his assessment of the Toronto Blue Jays ongoing slump. On Friday, the team dropped the series opener against the Cleveland Guardians 3-1 at Rogers Centre. This was their sixth loss in the last 10 games, as the team is now wiping the floor at the bottom with the Tampa Bay Rays, who are trailing them by half a game.

Gausman had a rough night, allowing eight hits, three earned runs and six strikeouts across 5.1 innings pitched. After the game, Gausman shared that pitching needs to be better if the Blue Jays were to win the game.

"A much as you try to block it out, it's really hard to. The reality is, yeah, if we don't pitch well, we probably lose," Gausman said via Keegan Matheson of MLB.com. "We've got to be really good. That's not to say we have a lack of effort, but right now, offensively, we're struggling. Defensively, as pitchers, we need to be better. We almost have to be perfect.

"It's tough. It adds some pressure, but we're in the big leagues, and you have pressure every single day. Every game is pressure. It doesn't add any more to it, but that's just the reality of the situation we're in," Gausman added.

On the other hand, Guardians starter Logan Allen held the Blue Jays to one run during his stay which lasted 5.0 innings. The relief pitching had a clean sheet for the Guardians, which allowed them to win a low-run affair game.

Kevin Gausman had a career night against the Oakland Athletics

MLB: Cleveland Guardians at Toronto Blue Jays

Prior to Friday's start, Kevin Gausman was coming off his first career complete-game shutout against the Oakland Athletics, resulting in the Blue Jays winning the game 7-0.

The right-handed pitcher only allowed five hits and one walk against a season-high 10 strikeouts across 109 pitches.

"You don't see many of them anymore," Gausman said. "To get the first one in my career 10 years … after it started makes it that much more special."

All in all, this has relatively been a subpar season for Kevin Gausman, who has posted a 4.08 ERA till now as opposed to his 3.16 ERA last season.

However, so far, he has only pitched 75.0 innings across 14 games started. He can perhaps improve his ERA mark, which will certainly help the Blue Jays improve their standings in a stacked AL East division.