Blue Jays' Hoffman showing signs of inconsistency after dominant start to season

Hoffman was dominant to start the season, however his last few outings have been hit or miss. Is this something to worry about or just a blip on the screen?

Hoffman entered Toronto's series with the Los Angeles Angels with a 1.10 ERA across 16 1/3 innings in 14 games with seven saves and 23 strikeouts. His next two outings would not go as well.

Hoffman had a rough ninth inning in Anaheim, blowing the save and taking the loss on in the series in Los Angeles. He entered the game with a 4-2 lead but gave up a walk and two singles before getting an out.

He struck out Taylor Ward but gave up a three-run double to Jorge Soler that flipped the 4-2 lead into a 5-4 defeat with one swing of the bat.

Hoffman was charged with three runs on three hits and took his first blown save and his first loss of the year.

The loss dropped his record to 3-1 on the year with seven saves in 16 games.

Hoffman also gave up three runs in an 8-3 loss the night before in a non-save situation, and this could be growing into a developing issue for the Blue Jays' bullpen.

Finishing just 2/3 of an inning across two appearances, the righty allowed six runs, all earned, on six hits with one walk and only struck out one. It saw his ERA for the year balloon to 4.24.

Many began to doubt Hoffman's abilities, completely discrediting what he had done across his first 14 appearances and 16 1/3 innings for the much smaller sample of two appearances and 2/3 of an inning. The righty quickly proved the doubters wrong.

Hoffman was brought in to close the door against the Seattle Mariners on consecutive nights. He did much more than that, striking out the side in each appearance, while only facing seven batters total, and allowing none to score.

Back at Rogers Centre last night the stage was set for Jeff Hoffman to close the deal on the Tampa Bay Rays on what turned out to be one of the wildest nights of the season.

Once again the wheels fell off for Hoffman. He walked Travis Jankowski, Danny Jansen singled, Chandler Simpson drives in Jankowski to tie the game, Brandon Lowe singled to load the bases, and then Junior Caminero hits a grand slam to make it 11-7 Rays. Hoffman gives up 5 runs in the 9th.

I know its early but this had a familiar Jordan Romano vibe to it. I really hope I'm wrong and Jeff Hoffman returns to the elite consistency we saw in the beginning of the season.