Blue Jays Ace Crosses Major Career Strikeout Milestone Against Rays
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Most of the time, the success of a player individually doesn't matter nearly as much as the team's success. Other times, a player needs to acknowledge a career milestone no matter what the outcome ends up being, and this was the case in Toronto Monday night.
It definitely wasn't the start of Kevin Gausman's dreams against the Tampa Bay Rays, but it was a game to be celebrated nonetheless, and Rogers Centre definitely celebrated him.
Going into his outing against the Rays, Gausman needed three K's to cross the 2,000 mark in his 14th year pitching in the majors. Instead of only three, he left the mound with five.
A standing ovation for Kevin Gausman after throwing his 2,000th career strikeout 🙌 pic.twitter.com/6rvmIn3aOM
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 12, 2026
Normally, that would put the stamp on a perfect night, but the 10 hits and six earned runs will steal the headlines instead. But they shouldn't, because Gausman now sits at sixth most on the active pitchers list.
- Justin Verlander: 3,554
- Max Scherzer: 3,499
- Chris Sale: 2,635
- Gerrit Cole: 2,251
- Yu Darvish: 2,075
- Kevin Gausman: 2,002
That makes for a pair of Blue Jays now across the 2k mark.
In-Depth Look at Gausman's Top Years to Get Here
Gausman has become the face of the Blue Jays pitching staff in recent years, but his journey started back when the Baltimore Orioles drafted him in the first round of the 2012 draft. He made his debut one year later, and found a home until the trade deadline of 2018.
A team rebuild sent Gausman to the Atlanta Braves, and by the time he left Baltimore, he had nearly 700 strikeouts to his name. But his journey to Toronto didn't end in Atlanta, as he spent two seasons in California with the San Francisco Giants.
The Blue Jays would unite with Gausman after his tenure with the Giants, when he became a free agent at the end of 2021. This is the final year of his contract.
Since joining the organization, he has amassed 841 strikeouts with a pair of seasons above 200, '22 and '23, with a career high in 2023 (237). Gausman has really found a home in Toronto.
Gausman started this season on a heater with back-to-back outings with double-digit strikeouts. He has definitely cooled off since then. The Blue Jays will need him to lock back in, because this starting rotation is already too short staffed with injuries to afford him to have a downturn in performance.
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Maddy Dickens resides in Loveland, Colorado. She grew up with two older brothers, where their lives revolved around sports. She earned a master's degree in business management from Tarleton State University while simultaneously playing basketball and competing in rodeo at the collegiate level. She successfully parlayed a reserve national championship into a professional rodeo career and now stays involved in upper-level athletics by writing for On SI on several different MLB teams' pages, along with some NCAA sites.