Soaring Jays set franchise record with 11th straight win at home, defeating rival Yankees 4-1

The first two innings have never been Kevin Gausman's forte but when he gets off to a quick start he knows it's going to be a good game.

Gausman struck out Trent Grisham and two-time American League MVP Aaron Judge in the first two at bats of the Toronto Blue Jays' 4-1 victory over the New York Yankees on Monday night. Gausman struck out eight and gave up just one run over seven innings as Toronto earned a critical win over the rival Yankees.

That one-two punchout was when Gausman knew he had his best stuff.

"Unfortunately for me, I'm usually not very good at the first two innings. My career ERA would be so much lower if, you know, I could figure that out," said Gausman, who has a 3.86 earned-run average over his career, although he has a 4.69 ERA in the first inning and a 3.32 ERA in the second over his 13 Major League Baseball seasons.

"But when I'm able to come out and establish the fastball and throw swing-and-miss splitters straight out the jump, I feel pretty confident that I can go seven innings or even more."

Gausman fell behind Judge 2-0 in the first inning but then got him out with a swinging strike on a four-seam fastball, a foul ball on another four-seamer followed by another swinging strike on a splitter.

The two battled again in the fifth with Oswald Peraza on third base and two outs.

Gausman jumped out to a quick 0-2 count in that at bat but Judge drew a pair of balls to even it 2-2. Judge fouled off three-consecutive four-seamers that were all over 96 miles per hour, before he popped up an 84.6 m.p.h. splitter to catcher Alejandro Kirk to end the top of the inning.

"That's kind of mano a mano," said Gausman of the impressive showing against Judge. "If he gets a hit, it's going to score a run, and if I get