Jays Lose 7-4, Springer Injured
· Yahoo Sports
Well, yesterday’s good vibes did not long endure.
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Something is up with Eric Lauer. He was sitting 90 early and about 87 by the fourth, and struggling to locate in a way that he hasn’t really since becoming a Blue Jay. His five walks were his worst since he was a rookie back in 2018. Perhaps it’s the lingering effects of the stomach flu that wrecked the pitching staff last week. He did throw 95 pitches, without evidence of arm soreness or anything like that. The rotation is already in tatters, so the Jays will have to hope that’s all it is.
In other bad news, Myles Straw came out to pinch hit for George Springer in the fifth inning (though as it happened he didn’t get into the game until the sixth). It turns out he broke his toe by fouling a ball off it.
Things didn’t start too badly for Eric Lauer. He allowed just a walk through the first two innings. Then the wheels came off. Brooks Lee lead off the third with a solo home run. Two singles and a walk loaded the bases, and his third walk of the day forced home a run. The Jays could have limited the damage, but a towering Josh Bell fly fooled Daulton Varsho into going back and dropped for a single, scoring two instead of recording the second out. A batter later, Trevor Larnach hit a missile off the facing of the second deck in right to run the Twins’ total up to seven before Lee popped up to end the inning. It was as bad of a meltdown inning as you’ll see. He stayed in the bullpen, presumably to spare the bullpen given Max Scherzer’s uncertain health for tomorrow, and regained his composure from there. In the fourth, an Austin Martin walk was erased when Brandon Valenzuela gunned him down trying to steal second. In the fifth, he sat the Twins down in order. They tried to get one more, and he retired one batter before giving up a walk and being removed from the game. All told, he went 5.1 innings, allowing 7 earned on 5 hits and 5 walks, striking out three. He didn’t give up a hit outside the nightmare third inning. It was a weird afternoon.
Spencer Miles took over, giving up a single to Lee that moved the lead runner to third before inducing Ryan Kreidler to ground into a double play to end the inning. Back for the seventh, he walked Martin but a fly out and a pair of ground outs got him out of it. In the eighth and ninth he retired the Twins in order, picking up a K in each inning. It was a strong performance that did a lot to help the rest of the team set up for what’ll probably be a quasi-bullpen day tomorrow, and he was getting it up over 96 in this fourth inning of work. Miles is looking like a great rule 5 pick and a key part of the bullpen.
The offence, on the other side, started hot against Joe Ryan before going silent. George Springer lead off the game with a walk, and Daulton Varsho put the Jays in front with a two run homer, his second of the year. From there, though, Ryan gave up only a hit batter among the next nine Blue Jays, and erased that with a double play. Vladimir Guerrero jr. lined a single to right to lead off the fourth, but the next dozen Jays batters went in order. Ryan only struck out five, but outside Varsho’s home run they couldn’t lay a finger on him.
They had marginally better luck with the bullpen. Kody Funderburk pitched the eighth. Ernie Clement singled and Andres Gimenez walked, but the rest of the lineup couldn’t capitalize. Facing Cole Sands in the ninth, Vlad hit a hard ground ball single back over the mound to lead off. Jesus Sanchez crushed one deep to right to bring the Jays within three. That was as close as they’d get, though, as Sands ended the inning there.
Jays of the Day: Varsho (0.13)
Less So: Lauer (-0.50)