Blue Jays' Scherzer to start Wednesday, but can Hoffman close effectively?

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Jeff Hoffman wasn’t good on an afternoon in which a series against an inferior foe ultimately was lost.

Amid the bad outing by the Jays’ closer, some good news did emerge.

Following the Jays’ 4-2 setback to the Chicago White Sox, manager John Schneider provided the team’s starting rotation for a three-game series in Cleveland that begins Tuesday night.

Eric Lauer gets the ball in the opener, Kevin Gausman in the series finale.

In Wednesday’s game, Max Scherzer will usher in his return from a troublesome hand injury, which may or may not hold up.

“That’s a huge, huge addition for us,” said Schneider.

“It’s Max Scherzer. I’ll take that any day of the week.”

As for Hoffman, he hasn’t been the same closer the team or fans of the Jays first saw early in the season.

He has been prone to serving up home runs, and has looked spotty when games have been close.

“It’s the roller-coaster ride of a reliever,” said the skipper.

According to Schneider, Hoffman is trying to return to his early season form.

What’s obvious is Hoffman’s frustration.

“It happens,” added Schneider. “We trust the (crap) out of Jeff Hoffman. It’s easy to blame him, but he’s been on the other side of us winning games.

“It’s a tough stretch for him, but he’ll come out ahead of it.”

What did in Hoffman on Sunday was his inability to put away hitters in two-strike counts.

“He’s got three put-away pitches. When they’re really good, they’re great. When you try to force it a little bit, those pitches tend to be in the zone.”

Hoffman did induce a weak come-backer off the bat of Andrew Benintendi. Hoffman couldn’t secure the ground ball, however, and it dearly cost the Jays.

“Nine times out of 10, (Hoffman) makes that play,” added Schneider.

Prior to Hoffman entering the game, Brendon Little issued a walk. Little eventually was charged with two unearned runs.

“Walks usually come back to hurt you and it did (Sunday),” continued Schneider.

Outside of Spencer Turnbull’s poor starting performance on Friday, the Blue Jays couldn’t find fault with either Jose Berrios, Saturday’s starter, or Chris Bassitt, who started Sunday. At one point Sunday, Bassitt recorded six strikeouts in succession.

There has been no issue with Bassitt or Berrios for that matter.

Gausman, to his credit, was not pleased with his start against Arizona on Thursday.

One of the most effective relief pitchers on the staff is Yariel Rodriguez, who struck out two in a clean inning after he succeeded Bassitt.

Y-Rod has seen his usage spike.

With Yimi Garcia still on the injured list, Hoffman is being relied upon in high leverage.

According to the manager, the team may explore Hoffman’s routine on off days.

When the Jays have won, the scores have been lopsided, effectively eliminating the need to turn to Hoffman.

He’s not going anywhere, but for the Jays to go anywhere in the standings, outings such as Sunday can’t be tolerated, even if it’s the nature of a closer and the small margins that go along with it.

As for Scherzer, Schneider admits the veteran’s battle with a problematic thumb does loom as a potential issue.

“The thumb is a thing,” said Schneider. “Getting to 75 pitches in his last start (at Triple-A) is a good thing. We got to monitor it as it goes.

“His stuff is where it should be. We’re really, really excited to have him back.”

Schneider couldn’t divulge whether Scherzer will be on a pitch count in Cleveland.

“Ish, if that’s the right answer. Add 10 or 15 to what he did in his last rehab start.”