The Toronto Blue Jays dropped their third consecutive game on Friday in a 6-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and pitcher Eric Lauer was not happy with the team’s strategy in the game.
The Blue Jays elected to go with an ‘opener,’ sending reliever Braydon Fisher out to start the game and take care of the first inning before using Lauer out of the bullpen for the second inning onwards.
It’s a common strategy around the majors, which aims to avoid having the starting pitcher face the most dangerous hitters at the top of the order three times in their start.
Fisher and Lauer combined for six innings of three-run ball, and Lauer finished his five innings having only faced the top of the order twice - so the strategy worked as manager John Schneider envisioned. But Lauer was unhappy with it after the game.
“It’s definitely different,” Lauer told reporters after the loss. “To be real blunt, I hate it. I can’t stand it. But you work with what you got.”
This isn’t the first time Lauer has clashed with his role on the team’s pitching staff. Lauer lost his arbitration hearing, where the team filed at $4.4 million against Lauer’s filing of $5.75 million.
A few weeks later at Spring Training, Lauer indicated he felt his inconsistent usage (Lauer made 15 starts and 13 appearances out of the bullpen in a successful 2025 campaign) led to him losing his claim. “The fact I ended the year in the bullpen,” Lauer said in February, “was probably what lost me my case.”
Lauer pitched to a 3.18 earned-run average last season and was credited by utilityman Ernie Clement as being the team’s unsung MVP after helping stabilize the rotation when it was ravaged by injuries early in the summer.
The results have not been similar this year: Lauer has a 7.13 ERA through four appearances. He dealt with a flu bug earlier in April that was cutting his velocity, but he feels that difficulty is behind him now. Moving forward, Lauer said he hopes that he can get back to a traditional starter role.
“You can make it work the best you can,” Lauer said about following an opener. “It’s just, hopefully it’s not something that we will continue doing. But you know, that’s above my pay grade.”
