TORONTO – Troy Tulowitzki suffered a chip fracture to the middle part of his right thumb after getting hit by a 93 mph Chris Tillman fastball Sunday, leaving his status uncertain and the Toronto Blue Jays in a roster bind.

Both the star shortstop and manager John Gibbons said after a 6-2, 12-inning loss to the Baltimore Orioles that he’ll be reassessed Monday, and offered no possible prognosis on when he might be able to return.

“From what I hear it’s very small,” Tulowitzki said of the fracture. “I just couldn’t grip a bat, but obviously I’m good enough to still play defence, so we’ll see how fast we can get the swelling out, see how it feels (Monday), and go from there.”

Given his importance to the team, it’s in the Blue Jays’ interest to go day-to-day before placing him on the disabled list. But the current roster construction features only one extra infielder – Darwin Barney – and offers no flexibility as fifth outfielder Ezequiel Carrera is out of options and can’t be sent down without passing through waivers.

The only bench player with options is Josh Thole and the Blue Jays obviously can’t go without a backup catcher. In theory, they could send down a pitcher, but their only relievers with options are closer Roberto Osuna, who isn’t going anywhere, and Joe Biagini, who as a Rule 5 pick can’t be sent down without being offered back to the San Francisco Giants.

And since the Blue Jays may need an extra arm after a heavy workload for the bullpen over the weekend, and with Josh Donaldson experiencing soreness in his left calf Saturday making the need for an extra infielder more pressing, there could be a few moves coming. Infielder Ryan Goins, still on a rehab assignment at triple-A Buffalo, would be one option to come up.

“We’ll look at it,” Gibbons said of making some moves. “You start getting those extra-inning games, it’s gotten us in the past, we’re a little beat up to begin with, so we’ll see.”

Tulowitzki was struck in the sixth inning on a 2-2 pitch, unable to get his hands away as the fastball sailed in. In his previous at-bat, he homered on Tillman’s first pitch to open up a 2-0 lead.

“I don’t know, you’d have to ask them,” Tulowitzki said when asked if the Orioles were pitching him up and in because of the homer. “They got to two strikes, there was a pitch earlier in that sequence that was by my leg. I don’t think by any means were they trying to hit me, it was just one of those things where maybe the pitch got away. But they can probably answer that question better than I can.”

Tulowitzki stayed in the game in the seventh, fielding Jonathon Schoop’s groundout, but left in the next frame, when he couldn’t hold a bat. Donaldson, who was at DH, came into the game at third base with Darwin Barney sliding over to short.

“Even on that play, it wasn’t my normal throw, it kind of came over the top trying to get my thumb out of there and just stick with the fingers,” Tulowitzki said of the Schoop grounder. “If I can throw, if I can grip a bat, we’ll see how long it takes. Hopefully not too long.”