Blue Jays - 10, Yankees - 1
Q. How did this day, this atmosphere compare to what you thought it would be, and how do you feel coming out of this?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: It was pretty electric. The whole before the game, getting ready, coming out to the mound, it was pretty cool. Finishing that first inning was -- I mean, it was so loud in here. It was crazy.
With a team like that -- I think they lead baseball in runs in the first inning, so I kind of knew that going in. So to throw up a zero in the first is huge and always big to do that at home.
Q. When you jumped to your last inning there, the big Judge AB, bases loaded, full count, no outs, what's going through your mind right then?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, kind of mano a mano in that moment. Unfortunately, walked the guy before to load the bases with no outs against one of the best hitters in the game. At that moment, you're like, all right, it's me versus you. I'm going to give it everything I got.
I kind of threw some pitches that I got away with, to be honest, early in the at-bat, but I thought the pitch before really set up the split down and away. In that moment, to be honest, I'm fine walking him. He can blow that game right open with one swing. So kind of knowing that, the whole at-bat I was trying to go down and away with the split, left a couple kind of too good. But that was a good pitch. I thought the pitch before definitely set it up.
Q. I think you're the longest-tenured pitcher on the playoff roster right now. For all of the trials and tribulations you guys have had in the playoffs before, what is it like for this group to get over that first game and get a playoff win?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, it's huge. I think we've lost seven straight in the postseason, I believe. So, yeah, to win one was nice. To win one at home in front of our fans that have been awesome really all season was really special.
For it to end up obviously 10-1 was great too.
Q. What was it like, you coming out of the game, Louis comes in. What were your anxieties in the dugout watching that?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Honestly, I think Louis Varland versus anybody right now, I would take him. He's so electric. He's throwing an almost 90-mile-an-hour knuckle-curve, and I think he struck out Stanton on 101.
You've kind of seen him take his game to another level when he needs to. When he was the opener for one of the last games of the season, I think he threw two innings and struck out five maybe or four. He's just electric. That was one of the greatest trades we've ever made.
Q. I wanted to ask you what you thought of Vlad's performance overall. And obviously the playoffs are the big incentive. That's really everything right now. But does he get a little extra boost doing it against the Yankees based on some of his performances over the years and some of his comments?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, I think he always kind of raises his game when he plays the Yankees, to be honest. He's been really good at Yankee Stadium. I know he's been really good against some specific guys over there.
Yeah, they definitely boo him and we boo their guys. So it's kind of part of -- he's the arch-nemesis for them, I guess. He definitely plays into that. But what a night for him, to hit a home run in the first and then have two other hits. He's the face of our franchise and a big reason why we go, a big part of why we're here. So it's been nice to see him have the night that he had.
Q. Your pitch count was outstanding today, including a four-pitch third inning. Were you surprised they were that aggressive?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah.
Q. You said you might have left a few out there, but you've got such a great defense. Talk about what the Jays did on the field.
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, Vlady's play, the diving play he made, Lukey -- it's nothing new, to be honest. These guys have been incredible all year. The amount of plays that Lukey has made, like he's been great for us. Varsho is obviously a Gold Glover last year and one of the best outfielders in all of baseball.
You just feel really confident that if they hit a line drive, like if they hit it hard enough, it's going to stay up there long enough these guys have a chance to make a play.
Q. When you're rolling through the first five and on a super low pitch count and then suddenly you get into that jam there in the sixth, what's the transition like at sort of battle mode from being so locked in beforehand?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: That sixth inning definitely kind of got away from me. Just too good of pitches to the bottom order. That's kind of how they run. If they can get those guys on and let the big guys come up when those guys are on, that's how they can really make a big inning.
To be honest, I just tried to stay with what we've been doing. I didn't throw any new pitches in those spots, but just tried to be a little bit more fine. Maybe that's why I did walk Bellinger and Grisham. I was trying to be a little too fine, and maybe that's why that 6 kind of got away from me a little bit.
Q. And sort of going mano a mano with Judge, after that and then just resetting for Ben Rice. Can you describe that mindset right there?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: Yeah, in that spot, I just feel really good matching up against him. Over the previous two at-bats and kind of what I had seen from him, what I thought he had been trying to do, I felt really confident in that spot that if I could throw a heater up and in and get it enough up and in, that he was going to jam himself and pop it up, and I got lucky that he did that.
Q. Are you superstitious at all? It's another win for the white panelled caps. There is some juice in it apparently.
KEVIN GAUSMAN: I don't pick the jerseys. I just kind of show up, and that's what it is. I probably would have switched it if it was anything different.
Q. Looking ahead, Trey's going to get the ball tomorrow. What's impressed you most about him in your short time together as teammates?
KEVIN GAUSMAN: He's a 22-year-old with not that many starts under his belt, but he doesn't act 22 at all. He seems like he's been here and gets along great with the guys. You would think he's been here for months and months. Everybody loves him, and he has a fierce competitiveness about him when he goes out there, and I think everybody really likes to see that.
Yeah, we're fired up to see him go.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports