TORONTO — The Chicago Cubs had a clear game plan against Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman on Wednesday night.
Attack his fastball early and often.
The aggressiveness paid off as Michael Busch and Matt Shaw hit solo homers in a 4-1 victory over Toronto in front of a sellout crowd of 43,120 at Rogers Centre.
Gausman (8-9) was tagged with the loss despite allowing just three hits and two earned runs over seven innings.
"They were not hesitating on his heater," said Blue Jays manager John Schneider.
Busch turned on a 3-1 offering in the third inning for his 23rd homer of the year and Shaw followed two frames later with his 10th of the season.
"I could kind of tell after the first (inning) that they were going to come out swinging," Gausman said. "Obviously I think the two homers were the difference."
It was the right-hander's 12th quality start of the season.
The Cubs were looking for his four-seamer — Gausman threw it on 51 of his 84 pitches — and tried to prevent him from finding his groove of following it with his splitter.
"You can go into a game thinking they're going to be aggressive, but I mean that was pretty crazy," Gausman said.
Chicago rookie starter Cade Horton (7-3), meanwhile, was dominant as he held the Blue Jays (70-51) without a hit until Andres Gimenez singled with one out in the sixth inning.
The right-hander retired the first 10 Blue Jays in order before walking Bo Bichette in the fourth.
Horton was pulled after issuing a two-out walk to Bichette in the sixth. Reliever Andrew Kittredge gave up an RBI double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. before retiring Addison Barger on a flyout.
Chicago catcher Miguel Amaya was taken off the field on a cart in the eighth inning. He suffered a sprained left ankle as he lunged for first base while beating out an infield single.
“You knew something was pretty seriously wrong pretty quickly,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.
Counsell added that X-rays did not reveal a fracture.
“It’s swollen up pretty good already,” he said. "It’s an IL (stint). It’s bad luck, unfortunately, and we’re going to miss him.”
Amaya was reinstated from the injury list on Tuesday after being sidelined since May 25 because of a left oblique strain.
The Cubs (68-51) tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth and Daniel Palencia worked a clean ninth inning for his 16th save.
Chicago outhit Toronto 6-2.
The Blue Jays' 4 1/2-game lead atop the American League East division standings remained intact after the second-place Boston Red Sox dropped a 4-1 decision to the Houston Astros.
The Cubs and Blue Jays will play the rubber game of their three-game interleague series on Thursday afternoon.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 13, 2025.
Gregory Strong, The Canadian Press
