Thursday Bantering: Life is Miserable.

Stick with me here as I attempt to ignore the Blue Jays loss last night for as long as I possibly can.

In triple-A Buffalo, unlike in Toronto, things are going well. Matt Dermody, in his 1.2 innings of work, struck out all five batters he faced. With Darrell Ceciliani and Chris Smith being placed on the seven day disabled list, Shane Opitz has been recalled from double-A New Hampshire.

Clay Buchholz, formerly of the Red Sox and now pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies, had an MRI yesterday, confirming suspicions that he has a “partial tear of right flexor pronator mass,” reports Jayson Stark of ESPN. Set to meet with Dr. James Andrews on Monday, Buchholz’s season is likely over. He had a similar injury in 2015, causing him to miss the last three months of the season, but he opted out of surgery.

“Nobody in a big-league clubhouse wants to be hurt. You’re here for a reason. You’re here to play baseball. You’re here to win. Whenever you’re not able to do that, it’s frustrating, especially being a guy that’s been hurt multiple times. I’ve been on the DL for an extended period of time, multiple times. It’s nothing that you want to happen. For me, I’ve got to find out, obviously, what it is and then get it taken care of.” - Philly.com.

AL East score roundup:

• Yankees 8, Rays 4. New York came back from a three run deficit in the top of the fifth to score eight runs in the next three innings on one home run, two singles, a walk, an error and a groundout. Blake Snell, starting for the Rays, gave up two runs (zero earned) and walked three.
• Orioles 12, Red Sox 5. Right before heading to Toronto for the second series of the season against the Blue Jays, Baltimore had a very strong offensive outing last night. All but one of their starters had a hit and six of nine starters had an RBI. Stephen Wright allowed eight earned runs on eight hits in 1.1 innings to earn the loss.

The Blue Jays lost last night, once again, by a final score of 2-0. Marcus Stroman, despite taking the loss, was absolutely phenomenal - in a complete game effort, he allowed just two earned runs and struck out four while throwing exactly 100 pitches (68 of which were strikes). Three teams have made the postseason after starting the season 1-7.

Today, the Blue Jays hope to end their miserable streak against the Baltimore Orioles at 7:07 ET. Francisco Liriano, coming off the worst start his career against the Tampa Bay Rays, will get the start for the Blue Jays, while righty Kevin Gausman, making his second start of the season against the Blue Jays, gets the nod for the Orioles. You can watch the game on Sportsnet-1 or MLB Network and listen to it on Sportsnet 590.

On the other side of Toronto sports, the Maple Leafs are probably doing something to do with this thing that has an effect on that number which influences their chances to go somewhere and win that shiny trophy. I bet they would be fine if they just hit with runners in scoring position.

Oh wait...

Follow Mark Colley on Instagram and Twitter at @360BlueJayNews and @MarkColley.