Nothing came easy for San Francisco Giants starter Kevin Gausman on Thursday, throwing 100 pitches over five innings, while giving up four runs on eight hits in a 7-4 loss to the San Diego Padres.
For the most part, Gausman had good stuff. His splitter was dropping out of the strike-zone and his fastball was topping out at 98 MPH. He wasn’t his sharpest, but no one is in September with nearly 200 innings pitched punching you repeatedly your throwing arm.
[Pause while I watch Brandon Belt hit in the bottom of the 9th...Damn. Ok, back to programmed recap]
What hurt Gausman today is what hurts most pitchers: pesky hitters who hit bad pitches.