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 the two strips of kinesiology tape on the back of the left-hander’s neck may have been, in part, a hint as to why.
Lauer’s 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 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 a base hit to Jo Adell that put runners on the corners.
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 to score 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.
With Jeff Hoffman and Tyler Rogers both down after pitching on consecutive nights and three times in four games, Louis Varland available only for a save status after 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.
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 to him and would formulate a plan for where his next outing, of up to 80 pitches, will take place.
Source link
#Taxed #Blue #Jays #bullpen #late #loss #Angels
