Garcia joins Stroman on Jays disabled list

Starter sidelined with left shoulder problem: ‘He should be fine,’ says manager Gibbons

A week after Marcus Stroman went on the disabled list, the Blue Jays have lost another starter to injury.

Left-hander Jaime Garcia was sidelined with left shoulder inflammation on Friday afternoon ahead of the Blue Jays’ second game against the Oakland Athletics.

The move is retroactive to May 16, the day after Garcia’s most recent start, when he pitched 3 2/3 innings against the New York Mets, allowing six runs off six hits, walking three and striking out six.

The eventual 12-2 loss, Garcia’s third of the season, was Toronto’s biggest defeat of the year heading into play on Friday.

“It flared up a couple days ago, the start,” manager John Gibbons said.

“No big deal, just a little inflammation. He’ll miss a start but he should be fine.”

Reliever Deck McGuire — who last pitched in that same Mets’ game — was recalled from the Triple A Buffalo Bisons in the corresponding move.

While McGuire is a starter in the minors, Garcia’s replacement was already in the clubhouse when he went down: Joe Biagini will take his spot in the rotation on Sunday, with Sam Gaviglio stepping in for Stroman on Saturday.

Garcia’s injury is, in part, why Gibbons held the pair of potential long relievers — Biagini and Gaviglio — back in Thursday’s series opener loss to the Athletics, instead calling six relievers out of the ’pen in the 10-5 loss.

“Those others guys needed to pitch,” Gibbons said.

“We’ve been talking the last six weeks about how much they’ve been pitching and they actually needed to pitch last night.”

Garcia, who signed a one-year deal reportedly worth $8 million with a club option for 2019 in March, has struggled in his first eight starts as a Blue Jays player.

His longest outing to date was six innings in his first start against the Chicago White Sox in early April.

Since then, he hasn’t lasted longer that 5 1/3 innings.