Eric Lauer addressed a rough outing against the Chicago Cubs on August 5, 2026, attributing the results to poor command and mechanical issues.
"I think I just didn't really have it today as a whole. It was just a bad game for me, honestly," Lauer said following the game.
Lauer explained that his command was off from the start. "Command wasn't great. I was kind of fighting grip all day and, uh, mechanically just wasn't, you know, fully synced up properly," he noted. He added that the bigger issue was his inability to put hitters away in favorable counts, rather than issuing walks. "The problem more so for me was, you know, not executing two strike pitches. I was leaving too much over the plate," he explained. He also stated that he was reaching good counts but not closing them out, saying he "was getting into some good counts, but also just wasn't finishing."
Asked about facing Cubs hitter Pete Crow-Armstrong, Lauer praised the difficulty of the matchup even from the same throwing side. "He's just got good baseball skills, honestly. He's very strong, got a quick stroke. He's really good at, you know, understanding the zone," Lauer said of the at-bat.
Lauer acknowledged that not every outing goes as planned. "Sometimes you're just not going to have it that day and you try to do the best you can," he mentioned. Looking ahead, he said his focus is on tightening up his execution and moving forward. "It's one of those games where you just kind of, you know, see what you can learn and move past it and move on and, you know, get ready for the next one," Lauer added.