Tuesday Bantering: Steve Pearce placed on DL

The Blue Jays placed Steve Pearce on the 10-day disabled list with a right calf strain, recalling Leonel Campos, a reliever, to fill his spot on the 25-man roster. Pearce initially left Sunday’s game after a double in the second inning, and now joins Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki, Russell Martin, J.A. Happ and Francisco Liriano on the disabled list.

Pearce, although starting the season slow, reached his stride prior to the injury. In May, Pearce has played in 10 games, hitting four home runs, two doubles and collecting nine RBIs. He had an on-base percentage of .333, considerably higher than his .211 OBP in April.

The recall of Campos meant Toronto was playing with a nine-man bullpen and two-man bench in Monday’s game. In the end, the smaller bench didn’t matter.

The Blue Jays lost 10-6 to the Atlanta Braves, ending their five-game winning streak with a poor outing from Mike Bolsinger and the Blue Jay bullpen. Bolsinger, who started in place of Francisco Liriano, gave up six runs (five earned) over 4.2 innings, walking two but also hitting three. When Campos came in to pitch in the sixth inning, he hit an additional batter, tying Toronto’s franchise record for most batters hit in a game (four). Later, Aaron Loup hit another batter, setting a new team record.

There were a few bright spots within the lineup. Kevin Pillar collected yet another hit (he now has an American-League-leading 49) while Devon Travis, apparently gaining weight after his knee recovery, hit two doubles and a single. Jose Bautista had three hits, including a double, while Justin Smoak homered, doubled and walked twice in his three at bats. One bright spot in the bullpen was Jason Grilli, who pitched a perfect inning in relief.

The Blue Jays will play their last game of the home stand today at 4:07 ET. Marco Estrada, getting the nod for Toronto, walked three batters in his last outing, but limited the Mariners to two runs over six innings. Jamie Garcia, starting for the Braves, hasn’t been his sharpest this season, but has still limited opponents to less than four runs in all of his six starts this season. You can watch the game on Sportsnet or listen to it on Sportsnet 590.

Good news: Troy Tulowitzki is expected to return to the Blue Jay roster when they travel to Atlanta on Wednesday, per Hazel Mae of Sportsnet. Additionally, Josh Donaldson is set to rejoin Toronto by the weekend.

Donaldson has struggled with a calf strain since he felt tightness in Toronto’s first full-squad workout of spring training. He was taken out of a game against the Rays early in April, and after returning to the lineup after two games, was moved to the disabled list. Troy Tulowitzki’s stint on the DL has been shorter, but still extended past what was expected.

Not so good news: David Price could be returning to the Red Sox rotation as soon as next week after a successful, albeit shortened, rehab outing. If you’d like to get a sense of how this will impact the Red Sox (with an annoyingly cheerful tone), the folks over at Over the Monster broke down how this may help the team. I’ll pretend to like the article because I’m required by contract (not really).

I hate the Red Sox

John Gibbons’ daughter, Jordan, and her band South Town will perform on Country Day at the Rogers Centre. Jordan, Gibbons’ eldest daughter, is the lead singer in the band, based out of San Antonio, Texas.

Last, but certainly not least, here’s your daily dose Joe Biagini being him (technically, he’s impersonating a bird).

Not that I’m into self promoting, but you should check out yesterday’s article on Blue Jay bat-boy John Neglia. Let me proceed to self promote with a customary link to my Twitter below.

Follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkColley.