Dickey shaky in second start; Blue Jays lose to Twins 5-3

DUNEDIN, Fla. (AP) R.A. Dickey was more focused on Marcus Stroman's season-ending knee injury than his own shaky start.

''You don't ever anticipate losing a guy like that,'' Dickey said after the Toronto Blue Jays' 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. ''An arm injury is one thing, but a freak accident like that knocks your wind out for a bit.''

Stroman was working on fielding drills Tuesday morning when he was called off by third baseman Josh Donaldson on a bunt. Stroman planted his feet to stop, then felt a pop in his left knee. An MRI confirmed a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

The 23-year-old righty was 11-6 with a 3.65 ERA in 26 games as a rookie last season.

''He's such a sweet kid, man,'' Dickey said. ''And he hurts. ... We know how painful it is for him. He's emotional right now in particular, so we're just going to try and wrap our arms around him. He's still got one fantastic career ahead of him, but this is no doubt a sad thing.''

Stroman was not available for comment after the game, but tweeted: ''Beyond devastated. Not being able to compete with my brothers each and every day is extremely disappointing. Still can't believe it.''

Toronto manager John Gibbons called the injury a huge loss.

''We'll survive this, we just have to move on,'' Gibbons said. ''Time is on our side to figure things out, but there's a big hole, no question. We may have to rely on a young guy, who may not be proven. Stro was a baby too, but a special guy. This didn't happen to just another guy, it happened to a special guy.''

STARTING TIME

Twins: Right-hander Kyle Gibson allowed one run and three hits in three innings.

Blue Jays: Dickey, the 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner, gave up solo home runs to Kennys Vargas in the second inning and Eddie Rosario in the fourth. Making his second start, the knuckleballer allowed four hits and struck out two in four innings and

threw 39 of 54 pitches for strikes.

''The second home run I gave up is a pitch that I would have never thrown in a real game,'' said. ''I tried to throw a fastball in, just to work on that pitch with two strikes. But ordinarily I would have never thrown that pitch in that situation. A lot of good positives for me.''

TRAINER'S ROOM

Twins: C Josmil Pinto, who has been sidelined with a right quadriceps strain, could return as a designated hitter as early as Wednesday.

Blue Jays: 1B/DH Edwin Encarnacion likely will be sidelined for four-to-five days because of back inflammation. The two-time All-Star said he felt a little tightness after Sunday's game against Pittsburgh and had a precautionary MRI on Monday night. ... C Dioner Navarro tweaked his knee in Monday's split-squad game against Detroit, but isn't expected to miss more than a couple days. ... LHP Brett Cecil played catch without any visible limitations for the first time since being sidelined Friday with inflammation in his rotator cuff.

HEADS UP

Twins OF Aaron Hicks was pulled from the game by first-year manager Paul Molitor after he lost track of outs in the third, while standing on first base. Hicks reached on a single, but didn't run to second when Eduardo Nunez flied out to right with two outs. He thought there was one out, which was the figure the scoreboard mistakenly displayed. ''Can't have that,'' Molitor said. ''So, we let him think about the game.''

UP NEXT

Twins: Tommy Milone starts against the Rays in Fort Myers on Wednesday. The left-hander allowed one hit in two innings in his first outing last Friday, a 2-1 loss to Tampa Bay.

Blue Jays: Drew Hutchison will make his first exhibition start on Wednesday against the Orioles in Sarasota. The 24-year-old righty, two years removed from Tommy John surgery, pitched two hitless innings in relief of Dickey last Friday against Baltimore.