The Blue Jays’ Josh Donaldson breaks his bat during the seventh inning of Tuesday’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Diamondbacks won 4-2.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Jose Bautista's sore big left toe will keep him out of the Blue Jays lineup for at least two more weeks – and probably longer – forcing manager John Gibbons to do some tinkering.
Ezequiel Carrera made his fourth straight appearance atop Toronto's batting order Tuesday night (against the Arizona Diamondbacks) since the Blue Jays' regular leadoff hitter was injured.
Devon Travis, who had not batted any higher than fifth this season, was slotted in at No. 2 with Josh Donaldson dropping back to third.
It is a combination Gibbons says he plans to run with for the near future.
"A little experiment, because you can always experiment," is how Gibbons phrased it.
Gibbons's mad-scientist routine did not have the desired effect as the Diamondbacks (34-39) continued their hot play of late and handed Toronto (39-34) a dispiriting 4-2 setback at Rogers Centre.
For the Diamondbacks, it was their fifth straight win and eighth in their past 10 outings. And to say Arizona made the most of its chances would be an understatement.
The Blue Jays outhit Arizona 8-3 on the evening, but two of the Diamondbacks' hits were home runs that definitely hampered the cause of the home side.
Arizona lefty Patrick Corbin tiptoed his way through 61/3-innings to earn the win, allowing both Toronto runs off eight hits to improve to 4-6.
The Blue Jays' third straight loss further stymied their efforts to overtake Baltimore and Boston atop the American League East standing.
Bautista, the Blue Jays 35-year-old slugger, injured himself on Thursday when he jammed his toe into the foot of the wall chasing down a ball stroked to right field in Toronto's game against Philadelphia.
X-rays revealed that there were no broken bones, but the American League club still put Bautista on the 15-day disabled list.
On Monday, Bautista visited a foot specialist in Charlotte where the team's initial diagnosis was essentially confirmed.
"Turf toe," Gibbons said, plainly. "Wear a [walking] boot a couple weeks and see where he's at."
Gibbons also said that Brett Cecil and Franklin Morales, the team's two injured lefthanded relievers, were set to begin minor-league rehab assignments at Class-A Dunedin.
It is a quirky part of the schedule the Blue Jays are in right now. After playing five on the road, Toronto returned home to face the Diamondbacks in a quick two-game interleague affair that will wrap up on Wednesday with a 4:07 p.m. first pitch.
After that, the Blue Jays will take flight on another six-game road journey that will first take them to Chicago to play the White Sox before heading to Denver for the past three games against Colorado. Toronto will return home on June 30th to begin a 11-game homestand that will take them into the all-star break.
It is during that stretch that Gibbons said the Blue Jays are considering a spot-start for Drew Hutchison to provide some rest for Aaron Sanchez, whose workload this season is being carefully monitored. Hutchison, who is pitching at the Triple-A level in Buffalo, has already made one spot start for the Blue Jays this season, back on April 24 when he earned the victory in a 6-3 Toronto decision over Oakland.
Marco Estrada was sent to the mound by the Blue Jays Tuesday looking to win his fifth consecutive win, but things did not look promising early.
A two-out walk to Jean Segura in the third inning didn't help, especially when the Arizona runner promptly stole second. Segura would then score the game's first run on a single by Chris Herrmann. And Yasmany Tomas belted an Estrada 2-2 changeup over the leftfield wall in the fourth inning, a two-run homer that extended Arizona's lead to 3-0.
Things might have been worse if not for another sensational catch by Kevin Pillar, who crashed into the wall in centrefield flagging down a deep drive off the bat of Peter O'Brien.
Pillar continued his solid play in the Toronto fourth when he lined a double to the wall in left-centre that drove in two Blue Jays baserunners and cut Arizona's lead to 3-2.
Estrada would depart after six innings, having surrendered just two hits while striking out eight – which on any other night would have been a commendable performance. Instead, Estrada was saddled with the loss, his record dipping to 5-3. Jesse Chavez, his replacement, promptly surrendered a first-pitch home run off the bat of O'Brien in the seventh inning that brought the score to 4-2.