Where does Rangers rotation stand after Lorenzen’s meltdown vs. Blue Jays?

TORONTO — Bruce Bochy has managed in the major leagues for nearly three decades. He’s won four World Series titles. He’s seen a lot. Like, a lot. It adds a bit of precedence to the following statement.

“I’ll say this,” Bochy said Saturday. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen that.”

That was rough.

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen failed to finish the first inning in a 7-3 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday at Rogers Centre. He recorded the inning’s first two outs — a George Springer strikeout and a Spencer Horwitz flyout — on seven pitches with relative ease.

Then the next seven Blue Jays batters reached before Bochy had to dive into his bullpen.

“I just couldn’t get it,” Lorenzen said of the inning’s third out. “Just couldn’t get it.”

Toronto’s Vladmir Guerrero Jr. reached on a 110-mph single that ricocheted off the glove of third baseman Josh Smith. Justin Turner ended a seven-pitch at-bat with a single next, then Daulton Varsho drilled a three-run home run that barely eclipsed the left-field wall at 352 feet. Lorenzen allowed two more singles and two walks to plate another run that made it 4-1, and he exited the first inning after 40 pitches and left the bases loaded for Rangers long-reliever José Ureña.

“Obviously, not ideal,” Lorenzen said. “I’m pretty frustrated about it. You make adjustments and you work on stuff as best as you can and you prepare not to go two-thirds of an inning in your start and make the bullpen wear eight-plus innings.”

Ureña, as he’s done much of this season as a spot starter and long reliever, did his best to bail Texas out with 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball. The early three-run deficit proved too much for a Rangers offense that went dormant for long stretches of the game against Toronto right-hander Kevin Gausman.

The larger issue as it pertains to Lorenzen is his long-term viability in Texas’ rotation. He signed a $4.5 million deal with the Rangers toward the tail-end of spring training and performed as a bargain early with a 2.86 ERA in his first 11 starts through June. Since then? He has a 5.97 ERA in his last seven starts and, in his last 20 and 2/3 innings, has walked 17 batters.

“I think he’ll say he’s not quite as sharp with his command,” Bochy said. “But, again, it looked like he had three-up, three-down [today]. It was a tough play [Guerrero’s single], the ball was just down the line enough to make it that tough for Smitty. It’s hard to go on the game today — they did get some hits. The last hitter, I think, he was starting to show a little fatigue out there with the number of pitches.”

The Rangers are on the precipice of a rotation overhaul. Two-time Cy Young award winner Jacob deGrom will travel with the Rangers to St. Louis on Monday and is expected to throw two more bullpens before he faces hitters for the first time since he underwent elbow surgery last June. Right-handed pitcher Tyler Mahle has made five minor league rehab starts on his way bay from Tommy John surgery and isn’t far from his major league return.

It’s good news for Texas, which could build a rotation that starts with deGrom, Mahle, Nathan Eovaldi and Max Scherzer before season’s end. It leaves right-hander Jon Gray, left-hander Andrew Heaney and Lorenzen to vie for the fifth spot. Heaney — the staff’s lone left-handed starter — has been the best of the three since the start of June with a 3.13 ERA in his last 10 starts. Gray’s highs (like his 1.52 ERA in nine April and May starts) are tantalizing.

Lorenzen pitched 273 games out of the bullpen for the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies from 2016-23. That experience coupled with his recent struggles might certify him as the odd man out.

“You just have to be able to step back and know what adjustments to make,” Lorenzen said. “Know what went wrong, what was good. Even though the results weren’t right, you just can’t completely change. You’ve got to continue to stick with what you’re doing but also make the right adjustments.”

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