Schneider: 'Nothing but trust' in Blue Jays closer Hoffman
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Toronto Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman allowed five earned runs in one third of an inning Tuesday night as the Jays squandered a late lead and lost 11-9 to the Tampa Bay Rays in the series opener.
After Daulton Varsho hit his second home run of the game to put the Jays on top 7-6 heading to the ninth, in came Hoffman, who was roughed up twice last week against the Los Angeles Angels, to shut the door. After striking out his first hitter, Hoffman allowed five straight Rays to reach, capped off by a grand slam from Junior Caminero that gave Tampa an 11-7 lead that eventually propelled them to a win.
Despite Hoffman's struggles lately, manager John Schneider stood by his closer.
"His stuff has been consistent all year, you know?" said Schneider, noting that Caminero's homer came on a pitch out of the strike zone. "He's done more than his fair share of helping us win games so far. I've got nothing but trust in him going forward."
The outing brought Hoffman's ERA to an inflated 6.05 on the season in 19.1 innings spread out over 19 appearances. He does have a league-leading 16 games finished and nine saves, but has now allowed multiple runs in three of his last five outings.
His struggles are relatively new as Hoffman had a 1.10 ERA in 14 games from the start of the season until May 2. But since then, he's allowed a total of 11 earned runs in 3.0 innings.
Toronto signed the 32-year-old right-hander to a three-year, $33 million contract this off-season to serve as replacement for closer Jordan Romano, who joined the Philadelphia Phillies this season after six years with the Blue Jays.
Hoffman was originally drafted by the Blue Jays ninth overall in 2014 but was one of the main pieces in a July 2015 trade that saw the Jays acquire shortstop Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies. After spending seven years with Colorado and the Cincinnati Reds pitching out of both the starting rotation and the bullpen, Hoffman excelled pitching out of the pen with the Philadelphia Phillies, making the All-Star Team for the first time in his career last season.
For his career, Hoffman has a 5.64 ERA as a starter and a 4.13 mark pitching out of the bullpen.
The Jays (20-21) will continue their series with the Rays at home Wednesday night, sending Chris Bassitt to the hill against Ryan Pepiot.