ANAHEIM, Calif. – Had their bullpen been in better shape, the Toronto Blue Jays would likely have used an opener in front of Eric Lauer and while the two strips of kinesiology tape on the back of the left-hander’s neck raised eyebrows, they had no connection as to why.
“It’s mostly just to be used as a reminder,” he explained. “We’re trying to fix some things posture-wise when I’m sitting. I’ve been having little neck issues, so it’s more just like a reminder to keep my head back and make sure I’m not slouching or anything. It’s just more precautionary.”
There’s nothing related to injury, either, Lauer added, yet his velocity was down Wednesday, so much so that Statcast initially tracked some of his first-inning fastballs as changeups before correcting. Lacking his best stuff, he was forced to make do over five innings of three-run ball, a theme that applied across the board for the Blue Jays in a 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels that ended a three-game win streak.
After a quiet start against the dominant Jose Soriano, baseball’s stingiest starter thus far, a scrappy three-spot in the seventh on Tyler Heineman’s run-scoring groundout, Nathan Lukes’ RBI double and an Ernie Clement RBI single tied the game.
But with the Blue Jays needing innings from anyone able to provide them, Tommy Nance came back out for the seventh after a scoreless sixth and issued a one-out walk to Mike Trout and base hit to Jo Adell that put runners on the corner.
Braydon Fisher, pitching for the third time in four days, took over and struck out Jorge Soler, but walked pinch-hitter Yoan Moncada before Nolan Schanuel ripped a bases-clearing double. Schanuel then came around when Clement, ranging into right field, tried to make a basket catch on a Vaughn Grissom flare but dropped it for a base hit.
Joe Mantiply had to come in and strike out Logan O’Hoppe to finally end the frame and handle some mop-up duty in the eighth, the damage done.
“You need some guys to step up when you’ve taken the first two of this series,” said manager John Schneider. “You’ve got to test your entire bullpen and great first inning from Tommy and then, walks are always going to come back and hurt you and, giving up easy stolen bases is going to come back and hurt you, too. Fish came in, got a big strikeout, and, just kind of a hanging, breaking ball there to clear the bases on a well-placed double and that happens sometimes. But days like today, you need some things to fall into place. A pitch away there to keep the game different.”
With Jeff Hoffman and Tyler Rogers both down after pitching on consecutive nights and three times in four games, Louis Varland only available to close out a win after throwing back-to-back days, Spencer Miles having thrown 22 pitches in one-plus the night before and Mason Fluharty in delicate territory having gone twice in the last three days, Thursday’s off-day comes in handy in more ways than one.
Schneider said in the morning that the Blue Jays will “re-evaluate” Hoffman’s status as closer, and whatever happens will have spin-off effects for the rest of the bullpen. Varland is the obvious candidate to fill the role, but he’s been so valuable pitching in various leverage spots earlier in games, back-filling that usage will be immensely difficult.
The Blue Jays also need to sort out next steps for Trey Yesavage, whose stuff was fine but only threw 64 pitches instead of a targeted 75 in his rehab start for triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday. Schneider said the coaching staff had yet to speak him and would formulate a plan for where his next outing, of up to 80 pitches, will take place.
In that way, the Blue Jays (10-14) have plenty to sort through ahead of the start of a homestand on Friday after a 4-5 road trip that started with a pair of series losses.
“I thought we played way better as the trip went on, obviously, and taking some positives out of the first two games here, even today,” said Schneider. “Soriano is really good, he’s got some really unique stuff, and I thought we grinded him to get him out through five and you’re right in the game. But a good off-day for everyone after a long trip.”
Lauer, feeling normal after a flu-ridden outing to open his season left him chasing physical stability, will be looking to regain the lost velo between outings. He feels he’s now in a position to work on things between outings instead of scrambling to regain lost weight, and wasn’t worried that his fastball was off.
“A lot of it was just trying to get my legs going,” he said. “I felt a little bit out of sequence, so I wasn’t I wasn’t holding myself back over my back leg as well as I could be and I was just getting a little down up front. But everything felt really good body-wise. I feel good. It was more just trying to wake my legs up and sequence things properly. I was a little bit out of synch.”
The Blue Jays weren’t quite as in sync Wednesday, either, O’Hoppe dunking in a single in the third, advancing on a Bryce Teodosio sac bunt that went for a single when they didn’t execute defensively and eventually scoring on an Adell sacrifice fly.
“Little things like the sac bunt, we’ve got to record an out there,” said Schneider. “That’s an impossible play for Heinie. There are no runs scored that inning, too, if you make that play. Didn’t do enough little things. But I thought we swung the bats pretty well and overall, this series, I thought there were a lot of positives.”
Lauer later gave up solo shots to Schanuel and Trout but avoided serious damage while allowing seven hits and two walks, with the kinesiology tape on his neck.
“Didn’t hear anything about that until I saw it on him,” said Schneider. “Checked with him, said he felt fine. Stuff was pretty light today, though, so see how he is. But we were checking with him after the after the first when a couple of heaters were coming up as changeups on the board. Assured us that he was fine, but, I thought he battled.”
