Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Mark Buehrle throws to home plate to get Cleveland Indians’ Jason Kipnis in the third inning of a baseball game, Friday, May 1, 2015, in Cleveland. Kipnis was out on the play. Carlos Santana was safe at first base on a fielder's choice.Tony Dejak/The Associated Press
The Toronto Blue Jays knew they were rolling the dice when they began the season with two inexperienced pitchers in the starting rotation in Aaron Sanchez and Daniel Norris.
On Friday, the experiment ended – at least for the time being – after the Blue Jays determined that Norris would be better served trying to sort out his command issues at the minor-league level.
Toronto manager John Gibbons summoned the 22-year-old left-hander into his office and told the rookie that he was being sent down to Triple-A in Buffalo.
"He knows he needs to iron some things out, that's pretty obvious," Gibbons said. "But the kid's a great competitor, he believes in himself. This isn't a bad thing for him."
And as if Gibbons does not have enough on his plate, now he has to be having serious concerns about the sudden deterioration of veteran hurler Mark Buehrle.
For the second straight outing, Buehrle was dreadful, getting raked for 11 hits over 51/3 innings as the Indians (8-14) hung a 9-4 pasting on the Blue Jays (11-13) Friday night at Progressive Field to knot the four-game set at one game apiece.
That is now 24 hits and 13 earned runs that Buehrle (3-2) has surrendered in 11 innings of work in his past two outings.
The Norris demotion sparked a series of pitching moves by the club that entered Friday's game with its starters shouldering a collective 5.20 earned-run average on the year.
That unhealthy total ranks Toronto 27th out of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. It is hard to get back to the postseason with that kind of non-production.
In a corresponding move, the Blue Jays selected the contract of left-handed pitcher Andrew Albers from Buffalo.
Albers has started four games for the Bisons this season posting a 1-3 record with a 3.09 ERA.
Albers is from North Battleford, Sask., and his presence with the Jays raises the club's Canadian content to five players along with Jeff Francis, Russell Martin, Dalton Pompey and Michael Saunders.
Albers was put right to work, the left-hander coming into the game in the fifth inning in relief of Buehrle with one out and two on and Cleveland up 6-4.
And the 29-year-old is hoping first impressions are not lasting as he served up a three-run home-run shot to Brett Hayes, the first batter he faced.
The demotion of Norris comes less than a day after he turned in a poor outing during Toronto's game Thursday night against Cleveland.
Norris, in his fifth start of the season, was only able to last three innings where he struggled with his control, loading the bases twice while walking two.
To his credit, he only allowed four hits and was able to minimize the damage by not allowing Cleveland to score any runs against him in a game that the Blue Jays would go on to win 5-1.
Norris posted a 1-1 record with a 3.83 ERA with the Blue Jays in 2015 and Gibbons does not foresee his run in the minors being a lengthy one.
"He's too inconsistent right now, it's for his own good," Gibbons said. "Go down and get back on track and we'll get him back here."
Norris's job in the rotation will be filled by Marco Estrada, who is being promoted from the bullpen.
Hotshot rookie Devon Travis, the one constant bright light for the Blue Jays over the first month of the season, was not in the starting lineup.
A sizzling line drive off the bat of Brandon Moss in the third inning of Thursday's game one-hopped off the field and plunked Travis directly in the left chest area.
Tests revealed that there are no broken bones, but Gibbons made the call to sit the sore second baseman for at least one game.
Travis is hitting .325 on the year, the high watermark among Toronto regulars, with six home runs.
Gibbons inserted Josh Donaldson into the leadoff spot in the batting order in place of Travis and it was a wise move.
Donaldson took the second pitch he saw from Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco in the first inning and clouted it over the left-field wall for a quick 1-0 Blue Jays lead.
For Donaldson, who came into the game batting .369, it was his sixth homer of the season.
Not to be outdone, Jason Kipnis did the same to Buehrle leading off the bottom of the frame and the game was back to square one.