TORONTO – The cause of a mysterious back ailment that scratched Anthony Kay from his scheduled start continues to evade the Toronto Blue Jays, who have yet to rule out a return to the mound for the rookie left-hander this weekend.
Kay, who first experienced soreness in his back and left side Monday night before his outing Tuesday against the Baltimore Orioles, said multiple doctors have looked at his CT Scan results “and we’re still a little confused about what it is.”
“We don’t think it’s muscular, we kind of think it’s a little bit deeper than that,” said Kay. “It’s not a big issue, it’s just something that’s unusual. They (Blue Jays medical staff) said they’re still trying to figure out with a couple of doctors what it is.”
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The 24-year-old, acquired from the New York Mets with prospect Simeon Woods Richardson for Marcus Stroman, said he’s hasn’t experienced a similar issue in the past. Before being scratched Tuesday, he played catch and while he didn’t have pain from throwing, the existence of the unsourced pain prompted the Blue Jays to pull him from the outing despite a 15-inning game the previous night.
“It sucks for the bullpen, they had to eat nine innings, so I was really trying to push to go out there,” he said. “But they (Blue Jays) weren’t having any of that.”
Kay has appeared in three games, two starts, since earning a September call-up, allowing nine runs on 15 hits and five walks in 14 innings with 13 strikeouts. He’s impressed with his tenacity and mid-90s fastball and the Blue Jays were eager to see him on the mound again.
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With only a three-game series remaining against the Tampa Bay Rays before the end of the 2019 season, that’s still possible, but only if the soreness abates.
“They said if I feel good enough to go, I’m fine,” relayed Kay.
If that doesn’t happen, he’s certainly given the Blue Jays reason to think he can impact the club in the near-term, whether or not he breaks with the team next spring.
“I feel like I’ve shown what I can do,” he said. “Hopefully I can come back in 2020 strong. Hopefully I showed Charlie (Montoyo) and Pete (Walker) enough that I can compete for a job next year.”
To help their depleted bullpen, the Blue Jays recalled Yennsy Diaz and added Ryan Dull to the 40-man roster, moving Lourdes Gurriel Jr., to the 60-day injured list to make room for him.
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