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Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Indians advances from second base to third base in the fourth inning during MLB game action as Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays waits for the ball on June 30, 2016 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images

Sometimes you eat the bear and sometimes the bear eats you.

This saying did not originate with Sam Elliott in The Big Lebowski. The first to give it wide currency was the great baseball philosopher and pitcher Elwin Charles (Preacher) Roe, who was said to have uttered it in the second inning of a game in the 1940s when he was yanked after another fruitless attempt to get the awful Pittsburgh Pirates safely past an opponent.

After seeing an okay-but-not-stellar outing get steamrolled by Cleveland Indians starter Carlos Carrasco, who struck out 14 and allowed just three hits in a 4-1 win Thursday night, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey said much the same. Dickey also fancies himself as a philosopher, although he is more from the eye-roll inducing, everything-is-positive, life-is-a-journey school of Anthony Robbins.

"I've been feeling really great," Dickey said after giving up three runs on two home runs and eight hits in total. "I think there's a lot of reason for optimism as far as I'm concerned with my personal growth throughout the year."

Dickey's losses did grow to nine Thursday night, against five wins and an earned-run average of 4.21, but then there is the other side of that bear equation.

"At some point, you have to take your cap off the other guy," Dickey said, referring to Carrasco (4-2, 2.56 ERA), who "pitched a hell of a game."

Dickey considered the power in the Blue Jays' batting order and said here's "a guy who punches out 14, especially our guys, and we've got a really good offence. Like I say, sometimes you've got to take off your cap."

The win in front of 41,365 fans at the Rogers Centre came in the opener of a four-game series that saw Cleveland win its 13 consecutive game. That is the first time an American League team has won that many games in a row since 2002.

It was also the first time the AL Central Division leaders have played the Blue Jays since Mark Shapiro quit as Indians president and took the same post with the Blue Jays last winter. The Indians are dominating the American League with an elite starting rotation put together by Shapiro.

"There was no doubt about it, it was Carrasco's night," Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He's always one of the better pitchers in the league when he's healthy. I don't care what lineup you throw at him, he was on."

Dickey made it through seven innings but a few wobbles left Cleveland with a 3-1 lead. He coughed up solo home runs in the second and third innings to Rajai Davis (his eighth) and Jason Kipnis (11), respectively. Each time, Dickey settled down to keep the Indians at bay but he allowed a third run in the sixth with a leadoff double by Mike Napoli, who was driven in by Jose Ramirez with a single up the middle.

This was enough to keep the Indians out of reach of the Blue Jays, as Carrasco mowed down the Toronto offence. Starting in the second inning, he struck out five of six Jays batters, only to see Josh Donaldson hit his 19 home run of the season, a long blast to dead centre, to cut Cleveland's lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning. But Carrasco quickly went back to work and struck out three of the next four batters through the fifth.

The Blue Jays managed to get the tying run at the plate in the eighth inning when shortstop Darwin Barney doubled to chase Carrasco. But Cleveland reliever Bryan Shaw ended the threat.

Brett Cecil, out since May 15 with a strained left triceps muscle, went back on the Jays roster Thursday and took over for Dickey in the eighth inning. Before the game the left-hander said he was feeling a lot better about his pitches, especially his curve, and backed that up with a three-up, three-down inning, a good omen for a shaky bullpen. Bo Schultz finished up for the Jays and gave up Cleveland's fourth run.

"I was a little shaky [warming up] because I was excited," Cecil said of getting into his first game in six weeks. "But I was able to harness that in the game."

Other than two pitches to two different batters, Cecil said, "I hit my spots where I wanted."

This was an encouraging sign for the Jays' incendiary bullpen. Cecil did not mince words when he was asked what he thought of the performance of the bullpen this season.

"Not very good," he said a media scrum a few hours before the game. "I mean, how would you guys describe it?"

Cecil quickly added he was not blaming anyone in particular. "Including myself," he said. "I'm not pointing anybody out."

Now that he has recovered from the arm-muscle injury, Cecil hopes he can make everyone quickly forget just how terribly his own season started as well as get the bullpen out of its funk. Before he went on the disabled list, Cecil stumbled to a 1-5 record and 5.23 ERA in 16 appearances.

The Blue Jays are also hoping Cecil can quickly recover the form that made him one of their most reliable relievers in the second half of last season because he is the only left-hander in the bullpen at the moment. Right-hander Ryan Tepera was optioned to the Jays' Buffalo farm team to make room on the roster for Cecil.

"I'm more confident than I was early in the season," he said. "I've got my curveball back to where it needs to be. It's a lot better, a lot sharper."

The Blue Jays will send Marcus Stroman (6-4, 5.33 ERA) to face Cleveland starter Josh Tomlin (9-1, 3.32 ERA) on Friday in a 1 p.m. Canada Day game. While Stroman has had his troubles lately, Gibbons has a 4-0 record as a manager in Canada Day games. Aside from his players wanting to feel Canadian for at least a day, Gibbons thinks the red uniforms the Jays wear to mark the country's birthday may have something to do with his streak.

"Well, there's always going to be a packed house and you have a bunch of wanna-be Canadians out in [the Blue Jay clubhouse], I guess, and it brings out the best in them," Gibbons said. "Something about that red, man. Maybe that red numbs the other guys. I think we ought to wear red more often. You could sell more [merchandise]."

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