Solid Eric Lauer start and George Springer grand slam helps Blue Jays launch critical 10-game stretch

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Another week, another mountain to climb in a Blue Jays season that always seems to feel that what awaits is mostly uphill.

The Jays certainly had plenty happening as a six-game road trip began on the right foot on Tuesday night with the first of three in Cleveland, a 10-6 win over the Guardians.

Celebration was in order before the trip started when the probable pitcher assignments were released revealing Eric Lauer slotted for Tuesday and the long, long, long awaited return of Max Scherzer scheduled for Wednesday.

Why the big deal? For the first time since the opening week of the season, it meant the Jays had an honest-to-goodness five-man rotation.

Then there was the fact that the Guardians series began the latest stretch of 10 critical games, a ride that will take the Jays through the midway point of the season.

But the first order of business was the latest effort from Lauer, who seemingly out of nowhere has been a saviour for a Jays rotation with its share of issues.

The well-travelled lefty gave manager John Schneider 5.1 scoreless innings before allowing a solo homer to the Guardians’ Carlos Santana to end his night. But going as deep as he did — Lauer’s longest outing of the season — helped him to lower his ERA to 2.21 while improving his won-loss record to 4-1.

Where the Jays would be without him is a worthy discussion, but credit to Lauer, who has made the best of the opportunity presented to him by Scherzer’s injury and the struggles of Bowden Francis.

Speaking of Scherzer, all eyes not just with the Blue Jays but around baseball will be on the 40-year-old right-hander when he makes just his second start with the Jays and first since March 29.

Scherzer himself has admitted to being nervous wondering how his wonky thumb will hold up under the stress of a game situation. But the mere prospect of having the three-time Cy Young Award winner back in the rotation is hugely enticing for the Jays.

As for the heavy-lifting ahead, the next three opponents are noteworthy. The Guardians and the Boston Red Sox, who the Jays visit on the weekend, are both on the Jays tail in the wild-card race. Then comes a rather large feeling four-game home set against the division leading New York Yankees that begins on Monday and includes the annual Canada Day extravaganza the following day.

Winning the first of those not only wipes away the bad taste of losing two-of-three to the lowly Chicago White Sox and boosts the Jays back to six games above .500 with a record of 42-36. Not only was it an important start to a critical stretch of games, with the Yankees losing in extra-innings in Cincinnati, the Jays are now just 2.5 games out of the division lead.

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BULLPEN WOES

Given the current form and health in the bullpen, you get the feeling that nothing will come easy for the Jays going forward. And Tuesday was just the latest example.

Once again, the visitors turned what for most of the evening seemed like a walk-in-the-park win into what was briefly an unnecessarily high stress affair from the seventh inning on.

It started when Mason Fluharty walked two of the three batters he faced, a lack of control that promptly got him replaced by Chad Green, who promptly surrendered a three-run homer to light-hitting Lane Thomas to cut the Toronto lead to 6-4.

Alas, the Jays would get it all back in more in the eighth when George Springer launched a two-out grand slam, the eighth of his career.

Back to the bullpen: The Jays needed five relievers to get through 4.2 innings after Lauer’s exit, a less than ideal development.

VARSHO SETBACK?

While there is much anticipation about Scherzer’s return for his first start since March 29, it sounds like the potential return of game-changing centre fielder Daulton Varsho has had a setback.

Schneider told reporters in Cleveland that Varsho (who has missed 20 games with a hamstring strain) felt tightness in that hamstring when running the bases in Florida on Monday. As a result, the Jays are backing Varsho off from his workload, thus delaying a potential return for an undisclosed period.

PLAY OF THE NIGHT

He may still be sketchy at the plate, but Andres Gimenez is a game changer on defence as evidenced by one of the best fielding plays by the Jays this season.

A cat-quick sliding dive to the right allowed him to somehow snag a hard hit ball by the Guardians’ Johnathan Rodriguez. The second baseman sprung to his feet and made a bullet throw to a stretching Vlad Guerrero Jr. to get the out at a point in the game where the Jays lead was just 2-0.

It certainly was a play familiar to regular viewers at Progressive Field where Gimenez won three Gold Glove awards for such stellar play.

For good measure, the Jays added a couple of slick double plays on a good night overall defensively.