{"id":310963,"date":"2026-05-11T22:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/310963\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T22:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T22:32:21","slug":"still-without-a-set-role-eric-lauer-struggles-again-in-toronto-blue-jays-loss-to-los-angeles-angels-in-series-finale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/310963\/","title":{"rendered":"Still without a set role, Eric Lauer struggles again in Toronto Blue Jays\u2019 loss to Los Angeles Angels in series finale"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> were going for the series sweep against the Los Angeles Angels<\/a> on Sunday, when a strong start from Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles<\/a> was erased by another poor outing for Eric Lauer<\/a> out of the bullpen, leading to a loss.<\/p>\n

For Lauer, it was a continuation of a season that just hasn\u2019t gone right at any point so far. For the team, it was perhaps a sign of changes to come with their lefty pitcher.<\/p>\n

Miles got the chance to work as an opener in Sunday\u2019s game, the first start of the 25-year-old rookie\u2019s major-league career. And where an \u2018opener\u2019 usually only works the first inning ahead of a more traditional \u2018starter\u2019 – the strategy is to avoid a starter facing the top of the opposing order and their most dangerous hitters more than he has to – Miles ended up working three scoreless innings, where he allowed just two hits and struck out two.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was almost a double-opener,\u201d Blue Jays manager John Schneider said after the game. \u201cCan we coin that phrase around the league?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tommy Nance<\/a> added a clean inning before Lauer came on to pitch the fifth inning as a \u2018bulk guy,\u2019 with the Blue Jays leading 1-0.<\/p>\n

Things fell apart quickly for Lauer after he walked the first batter he saw and allowed a two-run homer to the second. Vaughn Grissom<\/a> added a two-run double a few batters later, and before Lauer could record three outs, the Blue Jays were trailing 4-1.<\/p>\n

Lauer would finish the game, allowing six runs (with three home runs) in a 6-1 loss over five innings. The rough outing was recorded as his first blown save of the year, and spiked his earned-run average to 6.69 on the campaign.<\/p>\n

This was the second time Lauer has been deployed behind an opener this season, as the team continues to tweak with his routine to try to find results closer to the strong 3.18 ERA he delivered over 104.2 innings last year. The first time Lauer was used after an opener was against the Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> in April, and he told reporters after that game that he \u201chated\u201d the strategy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Lauer also told reporters at the time that it was above his pay grade to make decisions on whether he worked as a starter or a bulk reliever, which Schneider echoed.<\/p>\n

After another rough outing Sunday, Lauer was not as committed to his role as he was to just delivering better results when called upon, even relenting that he was \u201cnot a shoo-in\u201d for a rotation spot moving forward<\/p>\n

\u201cI obviously shot myself in the foot with my last start, giving up three runs in the first inning [against the Tampa Bay Rays<\/a>], so I didn\u2019t do myself much justice there,\u201d Lauer said Sunday. \u201cToday, I didn\u2019t do a whole lot better. Whenever I\u2019m out there, starting or coming out of the bullpen, I\u2019ll just make sure it\u2019s as quality as I possibly can. That\u2019s the focus right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blue Jays do not have many reinforcements readily available at this point. There has been no indication that any of the injured starting pitchers on the staff – Max Scherzer<\/a>, Jose Berrios<\/a> and Shane Bieber<\/a> – are nearing a return to action.<\/p>\n

Lauer was called an unsung MVP by teammate Ernie Clement<\/a> in 2025 when he helped stabilize the rotation through a rash of mid-season injuries. With the results still not coming in 2026 for Lauer, the Blue Jays may have to turn to another saviour in the rotation – and Miles may have put forth his name for that spot with Sunday\u2019s performance that dropped his ERA on the season to 3.00 in 12 games.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m totally capable,\u201d Miles said. \u201cI\u2019m just here to do whatever they ask. I\u2019m a Blue Jay.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Toronto Blue Jays were going for the series sweep against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,6013,120535],"class_list":["post-310963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-apple-news","tag-toronto-blue-jays-sports-baseball-team-team-statscom-238"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}