TORONTO — Next Monday’s off-day can’t arrive soon enough for this Blue Jays team, whose fuel level is close to reaching empty.

Not only are they currently playing a stretch of 17 consecutive games, but four of their previous five entering Monday’s series opener against the Boston Red Sox — the first of seven straight versus AL East opponents — had gone to extra innings. That’s a lot of baseball in a short period of time.

Namely for a bullpen that came into this series opener having to throw a ton of innings due to those extra-inning contests and Trey Yesavage’s injury departure last week in Houston. As a result, entering the night, only these Red Sox (31.2) and the White Sox (34.2) had compiled more innings from their relievers than the Blue Jays (31.0) in Major League Baseball since Aug. 4.

And that was before Monday’s starter, Jameson Taillon, exited after the fourth inning of his home debut during Monday’s narrow 2-1 victory with right forearm discomfort, forcing the ‘pen to cover the remaining five innings — bringing their total to 36.

After Taillon retired Red Sox outfielder Jarren Duran to end the top of the fourth inning, throwing his 61st and final pitch of the night, the 34-year-old starter — acquired from the Chicago Cubs just over a week ago — placed his glove over his mouth as he entered Toronto’s dugout and shared a few words with pitching coach Pete Walker. That’s when alarm bells began to sound.

Moments later, fellow right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson — only a few hours after being added back to the club’s 40-man roster — started warming up in the club’s bullpen. When the top of the fifth came, he jogged out onto the field and replaced the injured Taillon — a premature end to his second Blue Jays start, during which he tossed four shutout innings of one-hit, three-walk ball with a trio of strikeouts.

The Blue Jays will learn more of the veteran hurler’s fate and, more importantly, whether he’ll make his next scheduled start, ahead of Tuesday’s contest. But if the injury bug has taught us anything in 2026, it’s that nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to pitching injuries.

With that all-important off-day not arriving until this time next week, this latest injury blow puts them down to four healthy starters yet again. Hello Groundhog Day, nice to see you again. 

Taillon’s turn in Toronto’s rotation will come around on Saturday, landing in the middle of a three-game set against the New York Yankees. If he’s unable to make that start, it’s unclear who they’d turn to as his replacement.

After holding Boston’s lineup to one run — which could’ve been zero had the Blue Jays doubled off the baserunner at third base instead of first, or had been given the opportunity to appeal if Anthony Seigler had left early, which Schneider stated they were not — on four hits and one walk while recording a pair of strikeouts across three innings, Woods Richardson has suddenly emerged as a potential candidate.

The former Blue Jays pitching prospect — sent to the Minnesota Twins as part of the 2021 José Berríos trade, then reacquired earlier this season — has been stretched out to as far as 6.2 innings this season. But that was back when he was still a Twin in early April. More recently, the 25-year-old impressed over 5.1 scoreless innings, issuing three hits, one walk and seven strikeouts, with Triple-A Buffalo at the start of this month. He then extended that scoreless streak in his latest start before coming back up here, with a four-inning, one-hit shutout performance.

Another possibility may involve pulling out a dreaded bullpen game. Based on how taxed every arm is down there, though, it’s unlikely they’d opt for that move right now.

This team needs someone who can provide length, and isn’t that a phrase we’ve heard repeated far too many times throughout this unpredictable and injury-riddled campaign? Depending on Taillon’s MRI results, Woods Richardson might need to be that guy during the next turn through the rotation.

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