TORONTO — As the Blue Jays attempt to tiptoe their way to contention through an imperfect pitching situation, cracks have started to show. They’re not unexpected.

Before losing five in a row, a couple of them in gut-wrenching fashion, the club’s decision-makers were quietly feeling great about where they stood through 40 games.

They were tiptoeing well, piecing together the pitching, getting key outs late and scoring lots of runs.

But relying on an overworked group of relievers to twirl a 2.50 ERA through two bullpen days on a weekly basis isn’t sustainable through 162 games, and it’s too much for even one of the best offences in baseball to overcome lost leads late in games or insurmountable early holes.
In a tough division, it looks like there will be learning experiences this summer and missed opportunities will be costly with the American League East looking like one of the best divisions in baseball.

The manager is preaching patience, as usual.

“Those are tough losses in a row,” Charlie Montoyo said after Sunday’s bullpen meltdown cost them a ‘W.’ “Keep playing the way you’re playing. We’re going to be alright. Don’t change anything. Keep playing like that and we’re going to be alright. That was my message to the team.”

The next message to the team should come from the front office and it could be as easy as promoting Alek Manoah a touch ahead of schedule.

Maybe as soon as Wednesday.

THINGS I PROBABLY TWEETED
With the Jays wrapping up their Dunedin portion of the schedule Monday, the club announced Sahlen Field in Buffalo will be at 45 per cent capacity starting June 15 against the New York Yankees … The Jays return to Buffalo — where they went 17-9 last summer — on June 1 against the Miami Marlins, the same team they opened that ballpark against last August … With wind, sun and temperatures making things tough in Dunedin, Jays pitchers won’t be sad to leave a ballpark that essentially became Coors Field East, as teams averaged nearly 11 combined runs per night over the 21 games at TD Ballpark … As things move in the right direction with vaccines on both sides of the border, talk of returning to Toronto will start. Pay attention to what the federal government does when a Canadian NHL team needs to host a U.S. team in a playoff series … George Springer has been doing some light running and cage work, but the 31-year-old has yet to do anything that resembles sprinting or running the bases. Once he can progress to that — the Jays have not hinted at when that could be, but they say he’s “improving” — then he’ll need a rehab assignment in order to get some at-bats and make sure his quad is 100 per cent this time … Vladimir Guerrero Jr. carried the lineup during the first month of the season, but this month its been Marcus Semien. His OPS has been hovering around 1.100 in May and he’s been as consistent as it gets atop the lineup … Teoscar Hernandez hasn’t cooled down, either — he’s batting .356 since April 30 — and that depth is one of the reasons they’re putting up nearly six runs per game in May.

STAT DIG: 4.62
As outlined above, no secret to why the Jays have struggled recently.
A lights-out bullpen during the first month of the season carried them, and that simply hasn’t happened since the calendar turned to May.
The wear and tear started to show early in the month, but it’s been very apparent of late and it’s cost them multiple games.
The May bullpen ERA of 4.62 is more than two runs higher than the mark Montoyo’s ‘pen posted in April at 2.52.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“When you play here, you feel like you’re playing on the road.”
—Charlie Montoyo on playing “home” games at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, where the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox are the preferred choice

TWITTER QUESTION OF THE WEEK
“Why can’t this team seem to stay healthy?”
—Kevin in Alberta

ANSWER: It’s a fair question, but the Jays are far from alone when it comes to dealing with injuries this season.
Front offices across baseball braced for the impact of going from a shortened 60-game schedule back to a 162-game grind all winter, but IL stints have still had a major impact.

Mike Trout is the latest star to suffer a soft tissue injury that will cost him significant time, something the Jays are obviously feeling, too, with George Springer limited to just four games to begin his monster contract.

That’s without even getting into the pitching side of things.

It might not get better, either.

The MLB leader in innings thrown last year was Lance Lynn at 84.

How are arms going to respond once every single pitcher in baseball starts to blown past their 2020 marks?

Maybe it will be business as usual. Who knows. The unknown is the most difficult part for teams to assess.

Despite the Jays’ obvious injury woes, they haven’t even been hardest hit.

The San Diego Padres currently have 11 pitchers on the IL, and star Fernando Tatis Jr. has missed a good chunk of time.
Through the first 48 days of the season — as of last week — there had been an all-time high 350 or so IL stints, up about 65 from the last couple of years, per MLB stats.

In other words, get used to muscle pulls, arm strains and daily transactions it seems.

Teams are just trying to weather the storm and the Jays aren’t alone.

THE CALL-UP LIST
Five players closest to a promotion to the big leagues when a need arises:
1—RHP Alek Manoah, Triple-A: Following three dominant starts, Manoah’s next turn for the Bisons is scheduled for Tuesday. The Blue Jays have a bullpen day in the majors Wednesday. Stay tuned.
2—RHP Thomas Hatch, Triple-A: The righty returned from an elbow injury last Thursday, throwing three pretty solid innings. He’s going to be in the big league mix at some point soon. 
3—RHP Nate Pearson, Triple-A: This seems to be the pecking order as of today. Pearson would preferably be in a multi-start groove the next time the Jays call upon him.
4—RHP T.J. Zeuch, Triple-A: He’s more of a bulk reliever than a true starting option in the big leagues, but he’s stretched out.
5—RHP Carl Edwards Jr., Triple-A: The 29-year-old has thrown three scoreless frames signing joining the organization on a minor league deal.

PROSPECT SPOTLIGHT
Highlighting one player in the system that you need to know about:
RHP CJ Van Eyk, High-A Vancouver
With the Canadians transplanted to Hillsboro, Ore., due to the border being closed, the Jays kept many of their top prospects away from their only west coast affiliate to start to season.
Van Eyk, the 42nd-overall pick out of Florida State last June, was one of the exceptions.
After getting tuned up for four runs on three hits and a pair of walks got him pulled after just two outs in his debut May 7, the right-hander has improved with each start, culminating in a nine-strikeout performance last Thursday.
Van Eyk was dominant over six innings, allowing just one run on two hits.
The 22-year-old is now striking out 12.7 batters per nine over his first three starts and he could get a look in Double-A once promotion shuffles start happening later this summer.​