Behind Gausman’s fastball, Cubs show they could be dangerous in October

PHOENIX — Kevin Gausman’s approach Monday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks quickly became apparent.

The Cubs right-hander fed the Diamondbacks a steady dose of four-seam fastballs they seemed unprepared to face. Gausman typically relies more heavily on his splitter. Instead, his fastball accounted for 66% of his pitches thrown, leading to a career-high 24 called strikes on the pitch.

That helped Gausman toss seven shutout innings in the Cubs’ 7-0 victory, just the fourth time this year they’ve had a starter go seven without allowing a run.

Gausman, though, didn’t reveal when exactly the Cubs were tipped off on the Diamondbacks’ approach that seemed to have them hunting his splitter.

“I mean, I’m not going to give that away just because other people are watching too,” a smiling Gausman said. “But it was pretty early where we felt like we kind of figured out their game plan.”

Gausman credited catcher Carson Kelly for calling “a hell of a game” and recognizing that with two strikes, Arizona’s hitters might be looking for the splitter.

“We blew some fastballs with two strikes by guys today,” Gausman said. “It’s always nice when you have good enough command where you can throw that pitch a lot and kind of knew early on that it was going to be there when we needed it. So, yeah, you just go with what you’ve got.”

Gausman’s fastball command played a key role in his fastball usage. He landed 13 of his 15 first-pitch fastballs for strikes, and while Arizona put 11 of his fastballs in play, only two went for hits. In the Statcast era, dating to 2015, only one pitcher has gotten more called strikes on his four-seam fastball (Drew Hutchinson, 25 in 2015) than Gausman did Monday.

He credits the work put in during bullpens between starts to hone his command.

“I’m a two-pitch guy, so that secondary pitch, I’m going to throw it a lot,” Gausman said. “Recognizing what we had tonight and their game plan and then staying on the attack — it’s one thing to recognize that, but then the command’s not there and you’re maybe not able to do it. So it was nice to have a night where you feel like everything was there.”

Gausman’s performance was what the Cubs envisioned when they traded for him at the deadline. Coupled with Clay Holmes, who has allowed one run in 12 innings over his last two starts, the Cubs could have a formidable duo heading into the stretch run and postseason.

That might become more valuable with some shakiness recently from left-handers Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga.

“He’s a good energy guy, the work ethic is there,” Kelly said of Gausman. “I mean, he’s been doing this for such a long time and he’s a true pro and he wants the ball. You can see that every inning. It just seems like he gets stronger and stronger, and that’s something that our guys can really look at and build off of.”

Gausman showed what he’s capable of last October with the Toronto Blue Jays en route to their World Series appearance. He got a taste of how relentless the Cubs lineup can be, too, when they tagged him June 19 for seven runs on seven hits and four walks to knock him out after two innings.

“They’re just relentless, one through nine,” Gausman said. “There’s no gaps in this lineup.”

On a night the Cubs’ first five hitters combined to go 2-for-18 with three strikeouts, the team’s depth shined and put plenty of pressure on Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly and the bullpen.

Rookie Pedro Ramírez, 22, gave the Cubs the lead in the second with an RBI triple, part of a two-hit night to give him a .290 average. Seiya Suzuki’s RBI double in the fifth tacked on a run, and the Cubs’ power emerged in the sixth as Michael Conforto and Kelly hit back-to-back homers for a five-run cushion.

Ian Happ (RBI double) and Nico Hoerner (sacrifice fly) kept it going the following inning. The Cubs (76-56) found different ways to take advantage of mistakes from Diamondbacks pitchers.

The Cubs are getting the type of buy-in throughout the roster that’s needed for a team looking to make a deeper postseason run than last year. Manager Craig Counsell believes Conforto’s willingness to embrace his role, one that’s much different from his everyday presence in the lineup for most of his career, set the tone for that early in the season.

Contributions throughout the roster, like what they got in Monday’s win, are what the Cubs will continue to need to lock in a playoff spot and create postseason magic. They certainly are talking like a team that knows it can make noise in the playoffs.

“I felt more like I’ve come in here and kind of joined the party,” Conforto said after his three-hit game. “Being honest, at this point in my career, I just want to win games and I think it was a great fit. … Maybe it resonated with them that you can get to a place in your career where maybe it’s not so much about the money and the playing time and all that stuff, but it’s about being a part of something special.

“There’s an expectation. One of the big things is having a real honest belief that you can win the whole thing, and I think there’s no doubt we believe that. And I don’t think that’s super common around the league to fully, honestly believe that you can win the whole thing.”