TORONTO — A small circle formed around Marco Estrada in the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse, with teammates carefully shaking his hand as his right arm was covered in ice packs.

Estrada struck out eight over six innings and gave up three runs on two hits and three walks in Toronto's 4-2 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Despite the loss, Estrada set a Major League Baseball record, becoming the first pitcher to record 11 straight starts of six innings or more while giving up five hits or less since the distance to the mound was set at 60 feet, six inches.

He wasn't even aware he'd set a new benchmark until a reporter asked him about the milestone.

"Really?" said Estrada, before allowing the reporter to finish asking his question. "Well shoot, there's been a lot of great pitchers in this game. For something like that to happen, I'm obviously very excited, very happy, but it's kind of a bittersweet moment right now. We lost, so there's really nothing to cheer for."

After addressing media Estrada returned to his locker before pitching coach Pete Walker came over to congratulate him. Reliever Jesse Chavez, who sits beside Estrada in the clubhouse, was next to shake his hand. Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman joined them from a few lockers down to also marvel at Estrada's feat.

Toronto centre-fielder Kevin Pillar, who was receiving treatment on his right elbow when Estrada learned of his record, was also taken aback.

"In all of baseball? Not just the Blue Jays? Wow, that's pretty incredible," Pillar said. "It's unfortunate it comes in a loss, couldn't score him enough runs."

Pillar's two-run double was the only offence the Blue Jays could muster as Toronto (39-34) lost its third game in a row. Chavez, Jason Grilli and Roberto Osuna came in from the bullpen.

Estrada only threw 88 pitches, with manager John Gibbons pulling him because of soreness in his back.

"Just the deeper the game got, the worse it got," said Estrada, who said he tweaked it taking batting practice ahead of the Blue Jays' road trip with stops at National League parks in Colorado and Arizona. "I was trying to pitch through it. ... But I turned around a few times and saw my velocity was going down."

Yasmany Tomas and Peter O'Brien both hit home runs as the Diamondbacks (34-39) won their fifth game in a row. Patrick Corbin (4-6) pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits but only two runs with three strikeouts to earn the win.

Jake Barrett, Tyler Clippard and Daniel Hudson, who earned his first career save, combined for 2 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

A dribbling single between second and short by Chris Herrmann in the third inning was enough to drive home speedy Jean Segura from second base for a 1-0 Diamondbacks lead.

Tomas made it 3-0 in the fourth inning with a towering two-run shot to left field with Rickie Weeks Jr. on base.

Pillar brought the 41,838 in attendance at Rogers Centre to their feet with a leaping catch on an O'Brien flyball in centre field, bouncing off the wall for the second out of the fourth inning. Pillar needed a moment to compose himself after landing on his back on the warning track.

Pillar earned another ovation in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs with a double to left-centre field. The hit drove in Michael Saunders and Troy Tulowitzki to make it 3-2.

After the game, Pillar said he'd hurt his elbow on the catch and that it felt "hot" during his run-scoring at bat.

"Hurt a little bit, just caught my elbow. I think I got it between the (outfield wall's) padding," said Pillar. "I'm good though. Always good. Going to take a little bit more than that."

O'Brien added to Arizona's lead with a solo home run in the seventh, bouncing a 0-0 pitch from Chavez off the right-field foul pole.

Notes: Relievers Brett Cecil (triceps) and Franklin Morales (shoulder fatigue) were scheduled to make appearances for single-A Dunedin on Tuesday night as they begin their rehabilitation process. ... Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista was officially diagnosed with turf toe. Although he was placed on the 15-day disabled list Friday, Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said Bautista will have to walk around in a boot for a few weeks before being re-evaluated.