Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman takes the ball from his catcher in fifth inning American League MLB baseball action against the Seattle Mariners in Toronto on Tuesday, May 8, 2018. The Blue Jays have placed right-handed pitcher Stroman on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder fatigue. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Thornhill

TORONTO - Marcus Stroman is hoping that taking a step back will help him return to form.

The Toronto Blue Jays right-hander, who was placed on the 10-day disabled list Friday with right shoulder fatigue, has struggled this season with an 0-5 record and 7.71 earned-run average in seven games.

Talking to reporters before Toronto's game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre, the 27-year-old Stroman said he had hoped to avoid a DL stint. But when his arm issues refused to subside, he and the team decided a break from game action was needed.

"(It) just got to a point where it became very frustrating physically and mentally," Stroman said. "Just at a point where I felt I had to work at 115, 120 per cent where I would normally be working at 80-85 per cent to do what I do out there.

"So just a collective decision between myself and the staff to take a step back, do what I need to do for my shoulder, get my motion and everything in sync to get back to myself. I haven't been myself out there at all."

Stroman was 13-9 last season with a 3.09 ERA. He has pitched 200-plus innings in each of the last two years.

Stroman was hampered by a right shoulder injury at spring training, but he said there are some differences between the current injury and the earlier one.

"I was progressing pretty well in spring training and it's at the point now where it just hasn't trended to where I need it to be," he said. "It's hard to do everything that I can for my shoulder and my body in between starts while also focusing on lineups and being my best out there ... there would be spurts where I did feel great, then I'd kind of lose it and I'd get it back.

"That's why it's so frustrating. I want to find it where I have it permanently each time, 100 per cent every pitch so that's kind of where I'm at."

General manger Ross Atkins said there was no way of knowing if Stroman would need more than the 10-day stint.

"That (10 days) would be ideal, but there's certainly a strong potential that it's longer than that," Atkins said. "We'll see. Marcus has talked about how that has weighed on him mentally so that will be part of it — getting back to the right mindset — and then the right physical state.

"It could be days before he's back on the mound, and we're confident that it will be. But we really have to go a day at a time."

Toronto also optioned left-hander Tim Mayza to triple-A Buffalo. Right-handers Joe Biagini and Sam Gaviglio were recalled from the Bisons to fill out the pitching staff before the Blue Jays started a three-game series with the Red Sox.

Biagini has an 0-3 record in four starts and a 4.57 ERA with Buffalo this season. He failed to impress in two major-league starts earlier this season with an 0-1 record and 8.10 ERA.

Manager John Gibbons said it's likely that Biagini would take Stroman's start on Sunday. Gaviglio, acquired from Kansas City on March 21, has a 0-0 record with a 1.86 ERA in five appearances with the Bisons.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2018