Brock Holt #26 of the Boston Red Sox celebrates their victory with Xander Bogaerts #2 during MLB game action against the Toronto Blue Jays on June 30, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images
In his previous two starts, Marco Estrada was the toast of the Toronto Blue Jays, resembling a rogue Dave Stieb as he flirted with near perfection.
For a guy who led all of Major League Baseball last season in home runs surrendered, this was quite a transformation. It would be like Phil Kessel suddenly discovering a rink had two ends and winning the Frank Selke Trophy as the National Hockey League's best defensive forward.
A perfect game broken up in the eighth inning against the Tampa Bay Rays last week after taking a no-hitter that far against the Baltimore Orioles on June 19, and the Estrada legend was building.
You got the sense early on in Toronto's game against the Boston Red Sox Tuesday night at Rogers Centre, however, that Estrada's string of good fortune was up, at least for now.
Boston burst his bubble early and often, constructing a quick lead and holding off a late Toronto charge for a 4-3 victory. For the Blue Jays (41-38), it was their second consecutive loss to the Sox (36-43).
Estrada's troubles started with his first pitch of the game; the resulting ground ball was bobbled by Devon Travis behind second base for an error. Estrada proceeded to walk four batters in the frame, leading to two of Boston's runs, both unearned.
While Toronto's rotation has performed admirably of late, general manager Alex Anthopoulos has specified that adding another starter is on his to-do list heading into the trade deadline at the end of the month. Failing that, Anthopoulos said a bullpen arm might also be in order if the Blue Jays are to make a serious charge over the second half of the season and earn a playoff spot that has eluded them since 1993.
Manager John Gibbons agreed pregame on Tuesday that a pitcher, be it a starter or a reliever, would be a nice addition.
"Whoever it might be, if he [Anthopoulos] can get him and he makes us better, you get him," Gibbons said. "Then you adjust off that, whether it's 'pen or rotation, or vice-versa. But I think every team's looking at that."
Gibbons said that is why a pitcher with the skill-set of Aaron Sanchez could become so important should Anthopoulos decide to join the arms race.
Sanchez is currently on the disabled list with a strained right lat muscle, and won't be returning to the lineup until sometime after the July 14 All-Star Game.
After impressing in the bullpen a year ago in his first season and eventually taking over the closer's job, Sanchez was pushed into a starting role this year after Marcus Stroman went down with a knee injury in spring training.
After some tentative baby steps, Sanchez started to excel in his new role and was 2-0 in his last three outings before his injury, with a 2.18 earned run average. Contingent on what Anthopoulos does around the trade deadline, Gibbons views Sanchez as somebody who could return either as a starter or a reliever, depending on the need.
"Definitely," Gibbons said when asked if he can foresee a scenario where Sanchez returns to the bullpen while noting that he loved the direction he seemed to be heading as a starter.
"But this little setback, it could be just a one time thing you think," he said. "Now we've got to build him up. And also, we've looked at the 'pen, see how we can make it stronger. We like the way it's starting to shape up but you can always make it stronger. And he's a guy we definitely think can do that."
After falling behind in the first inning, Estrada coughed up solo home run shots to Boston's Jackie Bradley in the second and David Ortiz in the third that put Boston ahead 4-0.
Estrada was gone after 2.1 innings, his shortest outing of the season, his record now 5-4.
Toronto got one back in the fourth and a two-run home run shot by Jose Reyes in the seventh cut the Boston lead to one and provided the pro Blue Jays gathering with some hope.
Boston reliever Koji Uehara quickly doused that, coming on in the ninth to earn his 18th save.