Blue Jays' Eric Lauer became excruciatingly close to becoming Toronto's latest World Series hero in Game 3
Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Toronto Blue Jays reliever Eric Lauer had the relief performance of his life in Game three of the World Series.
The performance got lost in the shuffle a bit after such a deflating defeat to the Los Angeles Dodgers after six and a half hours of baseball.
However, now that Blue Jays and their fans have had time to sleep and actually think about it, how can you not tip your hat to Lauer.
Resetting mentally after such a taxing loss won't be easy, but this Blue Jays team prides itself on resilience.
«A lot of sleep,» Lauer said. «Sleep's probably the most important thing right now. And making sure that everybody's hydrating well, eating well and just making sure the body's ready to go.»
Lauer gave the Blue Jays all he had and then some in Monday night's 18-inning marathon
Entering the game with one out in the bottom of the 12th, the left-hander proceeded to blank the Dodgers across 4 2/3 innings with a herculean effort out of the bullpen that should have been his signature performance.
Lauer threw 68 pitches Monday, 50 more than he'd thrown in any other post-season game this month.
In fact, it was the first time he'd thrown more than 50 pitches since August, when he did so against the Twins.
Yet even if it had been months since he took on a starter's workload, he embraced the challenge at Dodger Stadium.
«Being a starter forever, I think it's just ingrained in me,» he said. «The adrenaline helps. It's the World Series. So yeah, I think length is something I've been built for my whole life and something that never really goes away.»
But while he downplayed the challenge of taking on that workload, those who watched Lauer up close did no such thing.
«Pretty unbelievable,» said Jays manager John Schneider.
«Impressive,» said catcher Alejandro Kirk.
The only problem was that Lauer was matched on the other side by another out-of-nowhere performance from Will Klein, the last available reliever for the Dodgers who shut down the Blue Jays across four scoreless frames of his own.
An 18-inning game will take a toll on any bullpen and Lauer will presumably be unavailable for at least a couple days after this unexpected spike in usage.
But as he pointed out after the Blue Jays' Game 3 loss, the bullpen might be in better shape than it might first seem given that Mason Fluharty, Louis Varland, Chris Bassitt and Braydon Fisher all threw 20 pitches or fewer.
| POLL | ||
OCTOBRE 28 | 447 ANSWERS Blue Jays' Eric Lauer became excruciatingly close to becoming Toronto's latest World Series hero in Game 3 Do you think Eric Lauer should stay a reliever or go back to the rotation as a starter? | ||
| Starter | 210 | 47 % |
| Reliever | 237 | 53 % |
| List of polls | ||