Slugger Juan Soto feasts on Blue Jays rookie after Kevin Gausman given the hook in Mets win​on April 4, 2025 at 10:03 pm

Presumably, John Schneider saw something to suggest that his rookie pitcher Mason Fluharty was better equipped to get the Blue Jays out of an inning that wasn’t even a jam yet.

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Perhaps the book on the Mets hitters strongly suggested that lefty Fluharty was better equipped to retire Juan Soto than veteran starter Kevin Gausman, who had allowed just two hits through 5.1 innings and, prior to walking Francisco Lindor to begin the sixth, had retired 14 hitters in a row.

Whatever the motive, the Jays manager made the mound visit and gave Gausman the hook — his first controversial move of the season. The subsequent implosion paved the way for a tight game to transition to an easy 5-0 Mets home opener win Friday afternoon at Citi Field.

The loss snapped the Jays’ (5-3) four-game winning streak and denied them the opportunity to win five in a row, a feat they accomplished just once last season.

It also was a downer start to a challenging 10 games-in-10 days road trip that includes two more in Queens, four in Boston and three in Baltimore.

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The rationale on taking Gausman out at that pivotal point in the game would have had plenty of data support for the matchup gurus, even though his pitch count was at 87.

Clearly, the Jays didn’t want their righty to face the celebrated first-year Met for a third time, especially given the fact Soto has hit Gausman with authority throughout his career. Prior to Friday, Soto was 8-for-15 against Gausman with a pair of doubles, a home run and a dozen walks.

Unfortunately for the Jays, it didn’t take long after Gausman’s abrupt exit for the first road game of 2025 to completely collapse.

Trailing 2-0 at the time, Soto rocked Fluharty with a double to the right-field corner to score Lindor. After an intentional walk to Pete Alonso, who had homered in the first inning, it was Brandon Nimmo’s turn to double, driving in another run and ending Fluharty’s day.

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To be fair, the Jays like plenty about Fluharty and probably were hoping to catch the Mets’ $765-million US man off-guard with the unlikely lefty-lefty matchup. But it was a big ask for a rookie in a tough environment, especially when Gausman had been humming along in what seemed to be a comfortable rhythm.

Early in the contest, it didn’t take long of Gausman and the Jays to realize that Queens wasn’t the Rogers Centre and the Mets are not the Washington Nationals. A raucous CitiField crowd loved its team’s first inning, as leadoff hitter Lindor doubled on the first pitch he faced and, two batters later, Alonso belted his third homer of the young season.

It was a benign afternoon for the Jays offence, though, as they managed just four hits, two each from sizzling George Springer and Vlad Guerrero Jr.  The Mets were held to just four hits as well — all for extra bases and all timely.

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