{"id":614878,"date":"2026-04-19T17:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614878\/"},"modified":"2026-04-19T17:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-19T17:34:09","slug":"toronto-blue-jays-manager-john-schneider-gives-vote-of-confidence-to-jeff-hoffman-after-latest-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/614878\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider gives vote of confidence to Jeff Hoffman after latest meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> dropped their fourth consecutive game on Saturday, and sixth in their last seven, with embattled reliever Jeff Hoffman<\/a> again at the centre of it.<\/p>\n

Hoffman entered the game in the bottom of the eighth inning with the score tied 2-2, and allowed two singles, a walk and a grand slam to Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> star outfielder Corbin Carroll<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Before the righty could record an out, the game was blown open for the Diamondbacks, who would go on to win 6-2.<\/p>\n

Though Hoffman was able to retire the side, the ugly outing raised his earned-run average on the season to 7.71. In 10 appearances on the young campaign, Hoffman has two losses and three blown saves, which is tied for the league lead. He also blew a save in his last outing on Tuesday, where he walked three and allowed two runs to score.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere may be people that don\u2019t want to hear this, but I\u2019ve got a lot of trust and confidence in Jeff Hoffman<\/a>, and I\u2019ve said that for as long as he\u2019s been here,\u201d manager John Schneider said after the game.<\/p>\n

That vote of confidence may be hard to stomach, especially after last season\u2019s historic run was botched in the top of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series when Hoffman allowed a game-tying home run for his biggest blown save of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going through it,\u201d Saturday\u2019s starting pitcher Max Scherzer<\/a> said after the game. \u201cHe\u2019s got to figure it out and come out the other side. When you do, you\u2019re better for it. You learn something about yourself. It\u2019s the \u2018evolve or die\u2019 mentality. You\u2019ve got to find a way to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the five relievers in the Blue Jays bullpen to make at least nine appearances this year, only Hoffman (8) and Mason Fluharty<\/a> (4) have given up more than one earned run.<\/p>\n

With other options waiting in the bullpen, Schneider is confident Hoffman can figure it out as the season continues. Scherzer echoed that confidence in Hoffman after the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all believe in him. We all love him,\u201d Scherzer said to reporters. \u201cWe all believe he\u2019s going to figure it out and get big outs for us. That\u2019s never going to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss to the Diamondbacks dropped the Blue Jays to 7-13 and last place in the American League. As the old adage goes, \u2018you can\u2019t win the division in April, but you can certainly lose it.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays have dug themselves into a hole as they trail both the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a> and New York Yankees<\/a> by more than four games entering play on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Hoffman\u2019s struggles at the back end of the bullpen aren\u2019t the only issue, but a turnaround for the team\u2019s embattled closer would help right the ship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Blue Jays dropped their fourth consecutive game on Saturday, and sixth in their last seven, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":614879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[712,49,48,75157,3302,75156],"class_list":["post-614878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-jeff-hoffman-sports-baseball-player-player-statscom-709602","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-blue-jays-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-238"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/614879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}