Blue Jays start measuring-stick stretch with win over Guardians

CLEVELAND – Armed with a full rotation for the first time since the very beginning of the season, the Toronto Blue Jays entered another measuring-stick stretch with the chance to assess how running five starters helps their pitching staff roll out.

Eric Lauer, his role solidified after nearly two months of stellar swingman work, did his part Tuesday night with season-highs of 5.1 innings and 86 pitches while allowing only one run. Some unsteady bridge-work relief in the seventh inning whittled down what had been a comfortable lead, but a George Springer grand slam in the eighth inning prevented a high-leverage finish in a 10-6 victory over the Cleveland Guardians.

While the exact toll from nearly three months of bullpen games is to be determined, the hiccup from Mason Fluharty, who walked a pair around a strikeout in a messy seventh, and Chad Green, who gave up Lane Thomas’s three-run homer before escaping the inning, came in the 34^th appearance for each reliever in the Blue Jays’ 78^th game of the season. 

That ties them with closer Jeff Hoffman — who has a 9.56 ERA in his last 20 outings after an electric 14-game opening month that included three two-inning outings — two back of lefty Brendon Little for the team lead. 

All rank among the majors’ most heavily used relievers.

“That's one of the things that adds up a little bit when you're operating a little bit short — guys are asked to throw an extra inning, an extra up, or some more pitches and those accumulate, those add up,” said manager John Schneider. “For Flu, in particular, he's a rookie, he's been in leverage, he's been in low leverage, he's been asked to do a lot from a left-handed standpoint, so you understand where it can catch up to you a little bit. And, for Chad, same thing. He's a veteran guy and has been doing this for a long time, so when you're out there a lot, it tends to catch up to you. But whenever you're bringing a guy in, you're trusting them to execute a pitch. Sometimes it doesn't happen, sometimes it does and that's baseball.”

The offence provided enough breathing room to keep the leverage arms from seeing action Tuesday, as Springer’s slam with two out in the eighth opened up a 10-4 advantage, and how much the Blue Jays score is one part of the equation in how bullpen innings can be better distributed.

But another element is having five starters again, which Schneider described as “pretty nice” and helpful in “planning it out that way,” as he wants to limit outings of one-plus innings for relievers not typically used that way.

Max Scherzer, starting Wednesday for the first time since March 29 when lat soreness connected to his thumb issues forced him out after three innings, going on a run is essential to stabilizing the situation, as is Lauer acclimating back to life in the rotation. 

The 30-year-old lefty is no stranger to carrying innings, as he logged a career-high 158.2 with a 3.69 ERA for Milwaukee in 2022, the season after throwing 118.2 frames at a 3.19 ERA for the Brewers. He also put up 149.2 innings with a 4.45 ERA for San Diego in 2019.

Through 40.2 innings in 11 games, five starts, so far this season, his 2.21 ERA and WHIP of 1.01 would both be career bests.

“I feel like so far I'm putting together probably the best (season) I've done,” said Lauer, an Ohio native who grew up cheering for Cleveland and had 50-60 family and friends in the stands. “Stuff-wise, I'm just more confident with everything I have. I think I have a good spread throughout. And the execution, I think, is the biggest part for me, like I've been saying. As long as I can focus on executing each pitch to the best of my ability, usually the outcome is pretty good.”

After two seasons lost to injuries and struggles on the mound, including a reset in the KBO at the end of last year, underpinning that success are some mechanical and arm adjustments along with “a real hard focus on the execution alone.”

“Not letting other things kind of creep into your mind throughout the game,” added Lauer. “And really just simplifying mechanics, making sure my direction is good to the plate. If you have good direction and you're on time, usually you can hit your spot pretty well.” 

He’d thrown 70-plus pitches in his previous two outings, which led Schneider to describe him as a “full go” against the Guardians. “Both performance and build-up-wise, he's earned that.”

Lauer then went out and showed why, working around five hits and three walks with five strikeouts, the only damage against him coming when his final batter, Carlos Santana, took him deep in the sixth.

“It's good for him to keep getting stretched out,” said Schneider. “You score some runs and have a little bit of a cushion, allows him to be able to do that too. Even if the game was a little bit tighter, you watch what he was doing and he was really effective. They didn't take many great swings against him. But that just really bodes well for us going forward.”

Added Springer: “Obviously, (Lauer) has been great. Getting Max back, I think, will be huge for us. … But there are a lot of guys who us as a team owe a lot to for getting us through this stretch.”