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’ three-run homer before escaping the inning, came in the 34th appearance for each reliever in the Blue Jays’ 78th 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.
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 manager John 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.
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.
