Blue Jays right-hander Estrada hopeful he’ll make his next scheduled start

TORONTO — Blue Jays right-hander Marco Estrada is hoping cortisone shots to his sore back will prevent him from missing his next scheduled start.

Estrada, who reaggravated a previous back injury while swinging a bat during an interleague game in Philadelphia last month, received four cortisone shots to his lower back on Monday — one each to the SI (sacroiliac) joints and one each to both facet joints on either side of his back.

Estrada experienced severe discomfort during his last start, a 9-6 win over Cleveland on Saturday in which the 32-year-old threw 96 pitches over five innings. An MRI Sunday revealed the same issues that caused him to miss much of spring training this year.

“It will definitely go away, I think,” Estrada said before Toronto opened a three-game series against Kansas City. “I reaggravated everything and it’s basically what happened during spring. I couldn’t really do anything but once I had the cortisone shot it took a few days and I was fine after that, to be honest with you.

“It felt good until Philadelphia when I took a few awkward swings and reaggravated everything. If it wasn’t for that I’d probably be fine.”

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Estrada has been an anchor in Toronto’s rotation with a 2.93 earned-run average and 5-3 record through 16 starts. He leads all major league starters with a .173 opponents’ batting average.

“I don’t want to miss any starts,” Estrada said. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do or whatever, but it’s what I want to do.

“Only time will tell. I really can’t give an answer right now. I’m pretty sore from all the needles. Hopefully tomorrow’s a little bit better and I should know maybe two days from now.”

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was confident that Estrada would be able to make his next start, which is scheduled for Thursday at home against Detroit.

If Estrada isn’t ready Gibbons said right-hander Drew Hutchison would likely make the start in his place.

“For some reason if Marco couldn’t make his next start he’d be the guy,” Gibbons said of Hutchison. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, but it could.”

Melissa Couto, The Canadian Press