Tony Gonsolin endured the worst start of his career, but the Los Angeles Dodgers picked him up as they rallied to earn a 7-6 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.
After giving up a two-run single to Paul Goldschmidt and two-run home run to Nolan Arenado in the third inning, Gonsolin allowed an RBI double to Andrew Knizner in the fifth that extended the Cardinals’ lead to 5-0.
The five earned runs are the most the right-hander has allowed in 52 career games (44 starts). He exited after five innings and allowed seven hits while collecting six strikeouts against one walk.
Gonsolin was critical of himself but also credited the Cardinals for taking advantage of the mistakes he made, via SportsNet LA:
“I wasn’t really great today. I thought my slider was really bad, I thought I didn’t do a great job executing pitches with two strikes, they jumped on some mistakes and hit them really well, so tip the cap a little bit to them obviously. Overall, just wasn’t really great.”
Gonsolin felt he had the right approach for Goldschmidt and Arenado but simply couldn’t capitalize:
“Goldschmidt at-bat was alright. I felt like I got to two strikes and just couldn’t put him away. Let that fastball up, and he didn’t try to do much. Just hit it the opposite field. The Arenado at-bat, kind of the same idea. I felt like I got to two strikes really quick and then just couldn’t execute. Left that splitter up and he didn’t miss it.”
Gonsolin acknowledged his struggles against the Cardinals but doesn’t believe they compare to earlier in his career:
“I’ve struggled a lot the last couple years, so not that it felt the same as that, but I didn’t feel like it was out of control. I made some bad pitches and they capitalized on it. I was fortunate to go five (innings).”
Despite the poor performance, Gonsolin heads into the All-Star break with an 11-0 record, 2.02 ERA, 3.39 FIP and 0.84 WHIP in 93.2 innings pitched (17 starts).
Kershaw surprised Gonsolin with custom suit for All-Star Game red carpet
If not for Miami Marlins ace Sandy Alcántara having a historic first half and Clayton Kershaw potentially making his first career All-Star Game start at Dodger Stadium, Gonsolin would arguably be the frontrunner to receive the honor.
Gonsolin nevertheless is looking forward to the experience and revealed he was treated to a custom suit fitting courtesy of Kershaw prior to All-Star Game rosters being set.
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