There’s a lot of appropriate frustration after the Blue Jays lost five of six to the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox over the past week. That frustration doesn’t instill a lot of confidence into some Blue Jays fans now that the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers sit on the slate in the coming days.

Despite the above, several members of Toronto’s pitching staff have churned out some very encouraging numbers, playing key roles in keeping the team in games while the offense and fielding have been sputtering. That, of course, is happening while the likes of José Berríos, Trey Yesavage, Yimi García, Shane Bieber, and Cody Ponce are all shelved on the injured list for varying amounts of time.

Among several pitching categories, the Blue Jays rank among the top-third or top-half of the league. With 107 strikeouts as a staff, they are only two behind the Houston Astros for the league lead. They are tied for eighth with only 28 free passes on the season, 10th in WHIP, and they are the only staff to not hit a batter yet.

They start to fall back in other categories with their 3.70 staff ERA (13th), .229 opponents batting average (15th), and 9 home runs (t-14th). With sample sizes being as small as they are, these numbers are fragile and can swing up or down with one really good showing or a really bad one. But, for now, these games still count just as much as the ones in August and September do.

With that being said, in a bit of a “thought dump” format, let’s highlight some of the contributors to the pitching staff’s performance to this point of the season.

Don’t tell Kevin Gausman that being 35 years old and in the final year of a five-year contract might hinder his performance. He’s been stellar.

Gausman has allowed just three hits between his first two starts of the season to go along with 21 strikeouts and no walks. Furthermore, a solo home run to Shea Langeliers on Opening Day is the only thing keeping his ERA above 0.00. He’s had nine three-up-three-down innings, but unfortunately, his offense has failed to put him in line for any wins.

Gausman has continued to do all of this largely with two pitches: his fastball and splitter. The latter pitch has induced 21 whiffs over his first two starts, which have included 80 splitters total. It’s a combination that has proven to be a pain in the side for opponents so far, but it’ll be interesting to see how he handles the time when hitters start having success. That’s when optimal velocity and location become more important than they already are.

For anyone claiming his numbers are the way they are due to who Gausman has faced so far, he gets the Dodgers on Tuesday night.

I’ll say it. Jeff Hoffman has been really good to start the year. Before I get into the numbers, yes, he gave up a home run to Langeliers on Opening Night. Yes, he gave up far too many home runs last year. But, I’m calling a spade a spade after his first five appearances this season.

Hoffman has allowed just the one earned run thus far this season, and he was dealt a rough hand of cards on Friday afternoon in extra innings against the White Sox when a Tyler Heineman error wound up plating a pair of unearned runs and putting Hoffman in line for the loss. Hoffman has struck out 11 hitters versus walking zero, and he’s posted whiff rates north of 40% on three of his pitches. This was put on display during an at-bat against Austin Hays on Friday with a pair of nasty splitters to get ahead in the count, ultimately slamming the door on Hays with a slider.

Is there time for Hoffman’s season to go a different way? Of course. However, you could argue he had the most pressure on him entering this season. I like what I see so far.

I also like what I’ve seen from Spencer Miles and Braydon Fisher so far. Let’s not forget that Miles had only pitched in 14 2/3 minor league innings prior to this season, and it was only as high as Single-A San Jose. I won’t gush over his performance so far since his sample size is so small, but he’s done a nice job taking care of business. His first outing was in the top of the 11th against the A’s with a ghost runner on second base, and he threw up a zero. On Sunday afternoon, he needed to eat up a couple of innings and keep the game within three runs, and he did just that.

Fisher has picked up right where he’s left off once last season concluded, not allowing an earned run through his five outings with one walk and six strikeouts. The mid-90s fastball has gone nicely with his pair of breaking pitches, including a slider that has generated a 42.9% whiff rate. Personally, even though he has already earned some high leverage outings, I would like to see him in a save situation on a day that Hoffman is unavailable.

I’ve listed a lot of positive, but there’s been some negative as well.

Although it may sound picky, two starts into the Dylan Cease era have been shorter than preferred. 90 and 93 pitches between his first two starts have only gotten him through 5 1/3 and 4 1/3 innings, respectively. This has been a concern of Cease’s before, but there’s still plenty of time to change that narrative with an added use of the changeup and a better defense behind him.

A lot has already been written about Brendon Little, but 10 earned runs (more than half of the pitching staff’s total earned runs), three home runs, three walks, and an inability to get opposing lefties out will not bode well for a lefty in the bullpen for a team with playoff hopes. Blue Jays manager John Schneider gave Little plenty of chances, but the organization opted to send him to Triple-A on Sunday morning.

Little was one of Toronto’s most oft-used relievers last season. In fact, he led the American League with 79 appearances last season. He deserved it after he had a 1.90 ERA through his first 49 games, but since then, an encouraging spring hasn’t been able to mask the struggles. As cliché as it sounds, hopefully a trip down to Buffalo will help Little work out the kinks. A player with his profile can benefit the Blue Jays – they’ve seen how that looks before.