Blue Jays going right back to Louis Varland to start Game 4

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How do the Blue Jays plan to attack the New York Yankees in Wednesday night’s second shot at wrapping up their best-of-five ALDS clash in the Bronx?

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Manager John Schneider is going right back to the reliever who allowed the mammoth home run to Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in Tuesday’s dramatic collapse in a 9-6 loss.

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Even after working one calamitous inning on Tuesday, it certainly sounds as though Varland was the plan all along in what the Jays slotted as a bullpen day after entering the series with only three starters on their roster.

While that “opener” assignment will be a tall order for Varland in what is expected to be a mad house at Yankee Stadium, it can be argued that he has been the Jays most effective reliever over the past couple of weeks.

The homer allowed to Judge — as massive as it was turning a 6-3 game to a 6-6 tie- – was hardly an indictment of Varland’s work. Judge somehow turned on a 99.7 mile per hour fastball that was more than a foot inside and launched it high to left field, bouncing it off the foul pole for the biggest play of the game.

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ALL ARMS SET FOR ACTION

The bullpen day strategy was always going to be in play when the Jays opted to leave Max Scherzer (who struggled mightily in September) and Chris Bassitt (who spend the last couple of weeks on the injured list) off the ALDS roster.

Even though the Jays cycled through six different relievers on Tuesday, Schneider said all arms in the bullpen will be available for action in the potentially pivotal Game 4. Through the first three games of the series, the Toronto bullpen has surrendered 12 runs in 12.1 innings of action.

In his one inning of work on Tuesday, Varland threw 20 pitches as Schneider hoped the right hander acquired at the trade deadline would cripple Yankees hitters with his high velocity fastball.

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The mix and matching will be fascinating on Wednesday, but it is expected that one-time starter Eric Lauer will handle “bulk” duties, meaning he will follow Varland.

Of note, the strategy worked effectively with a big win on Sept. 25 when the Jays were driving hard to lock up the AL East division title. Varland worked two perfect innings in that outing before handing it over to Lauer on the way to a big 6-1 win.

NOTES OF CONCERN FOR JAYS

Some other notes of concern for the Jays as they look to make a quick turnaround in advance of Wednesday’s 7:08 p.m. first pitch:

— The resilient Yankees are an incredible 11-3 in potential elimination games at home dating back to 2017.

— Including the playoffs, the Yankees have won 10 of their last 11 games at home and 16-4 in their past 20.

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— In their storied history, six times the Yankees have won a playoff series after falling into an early 0-2 hole.

— Of Judge’s 17 career postseason homers, 10 have either tied the game (three) or given the Yanks a lead (seven).

— The Jays have struggled to close out series, going 7-7 in their past 14 opportunities to clinch.

— Varland only allowed two hits on Tuesday but both of them were home runs. The game-tying blast to Judge and the game winner off the bat of Jazz Chisholm Jr.

— The Yankees became just the fifth team in MLB history to overcome a five-run deficit in a potential elimination game.

rlongley@postmedia.com

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