The Toronto Blue Jays were going for the series sweep against the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday, when a strong start from Rule 5 pick Spencer Miles was erased by another poor outing for Eric Lauer out of the bullpen, leading to a loss.
For Lauer, it was a continuation of a season that just hasn’t gone right at any point so far. For the team, it was perhaps a sign of changes to come with their lefty pitcher.
Miles got the chance to work as an opener in Sunday’s game, the first start of the 25-year-old rookie’s major-league career. And where an ‘opener’ usually only works the first inning ahead of a more traditional ‘starter’ - 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.
“It was almost a double-opener,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said after the game. “Can we coin that phrase around the league?”
Tommy Nance added a clean inning before Lauer came on to pitch the fifth inning as a ‘bulk guy,’ with the Blue Jays leading 1-0.
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 added a two-run double a few batters later, and before Lauer could record three outs, the Blue Jays were trailing 4-1.
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.
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 in April, and he told reporters after that game that he “hated” the strategy.
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.
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 “not a shoo-in” for a rotation spot moving forward
“I obviously shot myself in the foot with my last start, giving up three runs in the first inning [against the Tampa Bay Rays], so I didn’t do myself much justice there,” Lauer said Sunday. “Today, I didn’t do a whole lot better. Whenever I’m out there, starting or coming out of the bullpen, I’ll just make sure it’s as quality as I possibly can. That’s the focus right now.”
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, Jose Berrios and Shane Bieber - are nearing a return to action.
Lauer was called an unsung MVP by teammate Ernie Clement 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’s performance that dropped his ERA on the season to 3.00 in 12 games.
“I’m totally capable,” Miles said. “I’m just here to do whatever they ask. I’m a Blue Jay.”
