ANAHEIM, Calif. – Had their bullpen been in better shape, the Toronto Blue Jays would likely have used an opener in front of Eric Lauer, and the two strips of kinesiology tape on the back of the left-hander’s neck may have been, in part, a hint as to why.

Lauer’s velocity was down Wednesday, so much so that Statcast initially tracked some of his first-inning fastballs as changeups before correcting. Lacking his best stuff, he was forced to make do over five innings of three-run ball, a theme that applied across the board for the Blue Jays in a 7-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels that ended a three-game win streak.

After a quiet start against the dominant Jose Soriano, baseball’s........

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