Kevin Gausman strikes out six in win over D-backs

Gausman allowed two runs in the second, which led to Daniel Palencia getting up in the Cubs pen. Gausman survived that inning and pitched a scoreless third, but Palencia went on to replace him after a one-out double in the fourth. Palencia then gave up a two-run homer to Gavin Sheets to give the Padres a 4-1 lead. Gausman, who turns 36 in January, hasn’t committed to continuing his career after finishing up his five-year, $110 million deal, but there will certainly be interest in him, even after a down year. He might not even have to take a paycut.

Gausman always figured to be one of the Cubs’ three starters in the series, but there were some doubts about his availability after he injured his non-throwing shoulder in his final regular season start. Fortunately, it seems he’s good to go. The Cubs, though, will have everyone available while facing elimination.

While Gausman was encouraged by how he felt, he won’t know for sure if he’ll be available for the Wild Card Series until seeing how his body responds on Monday. If he’s declared ready to go, he would get the ball in either Game 1 or 2 for the Cubs.

“I’ll probably be in the training room all day, just trying to get some inflammation down, get the range of motion going and kind of see where we’re at,” Gausman said. “The next two days are pretty important, to be honest, trying to get back to a little bit of normalcy.” Gausman is expected to start in next week’s Wild Card series if healthy.

Things went great for Gausman through the first five innings here. He’d held the Marlins scoreless, struck out seven batters, and forced a jaw-dropping 19 swings-and-misses with his splitter. That’s the second most whiffs Gausman has ever had with his splitter in a single outing. Then, that sixth inning came around and Kyle Stowers got him for a two-run home run to break what was a 0-0 tie at the time. To make matters worse, Gausman was injured just a few plays later after making a tremendous play beating Heriberto Hernández to third base with a full-extension dive and tagging him out. On that dive, Gausman tweaked his left shoulder. His status ahead of next week’s Wild Card series is very important to the Cubs’ playoff hopes.

Gausman had a shutout going until Ronald Acuña Jr. homered with one out in the sixth. The Cubs still had a 3-2 lead at that point, but the pen couldn’t hold it. Still, it was a positive outing for Gausman, who struck out six and walked none. He’s in line to face the Marlins on Tuesday.

The earned runs all came on three homers over the first two innings. The first of those was rather unlucky, as Christian Yelich’s 372-foot, three-run shot to left-center was a homer in only two ballparks (ironically, the other one it would have been a homer in, besides tonight’s venue in Milwaukee, was Wrigley Field). Gausman finished up with six strikeouts. There was no overcoming the homers, though. He has a 5.31 ERA in seven starts since being acquired from the Jays, largely because he’s allowed nine homers. He’ll face the Braves at home next week.

The 35-year-old right-hander scattered five hits on the night while issuing just one free pass. The only run scored against him came on a solo shot off the bat of Andrew Vaughn with two outs in the fourth inning. Aside from that, Gausman was in complete control. He got 14 whiffs on 103 offerings in the ballgame, registering a strong CSW of 34 percent. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling as he carries a 4.38 ERA, 1.26 WHIP and a 165/44 K/BB ratio (162 1/3 innings) into a tough matchup against Jacob Misiorowski and these Brewers in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

On the plus side for fantasy managers, Gausman did rack up seven strikeouts on the afternoon while allowing a pair of free passes. Most of the damage done against him came via the long ball, with Eugenio Suarez and Sal Stewart each slugging two-run homers against him. The 35-year-old hurler generated 13 swings and misses on 102 pitches on the day, posting a strong CSW of 33 percent. Now 8-11 on the season, he’ll bring a middling 4.52 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and a 156/43 K/BB ratio (155 1/3 innings) into Thursday’s battle against the Brewers.

Gausman will take the ball after making an early exit from his previous start against the White Sox with a cramp in his non-throwing hand last week. It doesn’t appear to be a concern heading into Monday’s road tilt against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.