TORONTO — The Blue Jays have pivoted from their earlier starting-pitching plans for this weekend’s road series against the Texas Rangers, which will impact how they deploy their injury-riddled staff the rest of the way.

Prior to Tuesday’s 10-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers, manager John Schneider revealed in his office pre-game that the team was leaning towards starting Spencer Arrighetti in Friday’s opener versus the Rangers, with ace Dylan Cease and José Soriano slotting in behind him on an extra day of rest. That meant neither would be in line to start Game 1 of a potential AL wild-card series if the Blue Jays make it there.

Those plans have since been altered.

In the few hours that passed since speaking with reporters before Tuesday’s first pitch, Schneider convened with the rest of Toronto’s coaching staff to discuss shuffling the rotation during its next turn through, bumping Cease and Soriano up one spot each, which would also free up Arrighetti to offer length out of the bullpen against Detroit if needed.

Everyone agreed upon the pivot. So, the next step for the club’s skipper was to ensure each of the players signed off on the change, which they did. Then it was time to put the plan in motion.

After the Blue Jays had already burned through Braydon Fisher, Brendan Cellucci (making his MLB debut), Michael Lorenzen, and Brendon Little by the time the seventh inning rolled around, trailing 6-0, Arrighetti came out of the bullpen to handle mop-up duty. He did just that, tossing a pair of innings on 52 pitches, preserving their high-leverage relievers for Wednesday’s series finale — which is now essentially a must-win game.

In speaking post-game, Schneider confirmed what had already been pieced together — Arrighetti was no longer starting Friday. Instead, he’ll now likely make his next start in Sunday’s finale, while Cease and Soriano leapfrog him in the first and second games, respectively.

The Blue Jays’ assembled brass didn’t come to this decision lightly. It’s more of a push-and-pull dilemma, weighing the pros and cons of forcing the envelope with your top two starters working on regular rest (four days) or an extra day.

Following this minor tweak, here’s how the final nine games — after Wednesday’s contest — are expected to line up for Toronto’s rotation.

There’s still a bit of uncertainty about when Yesavage will return from the injured list. Now that Soriano isn’t starting Sunday, there’s a potential opening for the 23-year-old to appear in that series rather than in next week’s opener against the Baltimore Orioles. In any case, it’ll be an abbreviated outing, after throwing just 34 pitches (23 strikes) in two-thirds of an inning for Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday.

Considering the weight that those three games in Texas will hold, Yesavage may offer additional upside over Arrighetti, even if it’s only for 40-45 pitches or so. They’re dealing with an imperfect scenario in both cases. But given how much the latter has struggled as a Blue Jay (6.20 ERA, 6.54 FIP and 5.3 per cent K-BB% in 20.1 innings), that might present their best opportunity to win another of these bullpen games.

It could also provide a blueprint for how Schneider and his staff handle a potential winner-take-all Game 3 of a wild-card series, now that Cease and Soriano are lined up to start Games 1 and 2.

Under those circumstances, it’d be all hands on deck for the Blue Jays. But in a season filled with bullpen days — they’ve accounted for 22 starts thus far, one shy of matching Kevin Gausman’s season output — they appear relatively comfortable operating in this territory.

Plus, they’re veterans at this now, too. Between the number of times they’ve gone to that well this year, and after using eight relievers in last fall’s ALDS-winning Game 4 over the New York Yankees, this isn’t uncharted waters anymore. If anything, you could argue the student has now become the master in this sense.

At the same time, the Blue Jays still have to make the playoffs, which, after dropping two straight to the Tigers this week, including a Soriano start day, they aren’t any closer to accomplishing that goal. So as much as strategizing a few steps ahead matters, it’ll be for naught if those games don’t.

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