TORONTO – Roberto Osuna was walking off the field with his head down when he heard someone call his name.

“Hey Osuna,” yelled Albert Pujols as they crossed paths en route to their respective dugouts.

“Yes sir,” replied the rookie right-hander.

“You’ve got good stuff, keep throwing like that,” praised the superstar slugger.

The Los Angeles Angels first baseman isn’t the only foe that’s stopped to praise the Toronto Blue Jays 20-year-old set-up man. Earlier this year, Tampa Bay Rays rookie Stephen Souza Jr. ran by him and said “good stuff,” after making an out, but the props from Pujols were different.

“It was very exciting,” said Osuna, who recorded two outs in the eighth inning of Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to the Angels, crossing paths with Pujols afterwards. “It makes me feel good and want to try and pitch better.”

It’s hard to imagine there’s much room for improvement – Osuna has an 0.83 ERA in 21.2 innings over 17 games so far this season – and if anything, his effectiveness has made for a heavy workload on his young, surgically repaired right arm.

No one in the Blue Jays bullpen has appeared in more games or logged more innings than him, but no one has been as consistently dominant, either.

“I’m not concerned about it – yet,” said manager John Gibbons. “But he’s been that good, you know, when you get in tight games like that, you want him. Now it’s back-to-back days for him, you won’t see him (Wednesday), we’ve been pretty conscious of when he throws a couple of days in a row that we give him enough rest. That’s definitely on our mind, but when you’re good, you’re good.”

JACOBY RETURNS: Blue Jays hitting coach Brook Jacoby was back in the dugout after his 14-game suspension for a post-game incident with umpire Doug Eddings in Fenway Park last month.

While he was able to work with his players before games during his punishment, he was banned from the clubhouse during play and was forced to watch from the front office box. Jacoby found little value in watching from a different vantage point.

“The only thing I did up there is if there’s a monitor around, I’d look at how they’re trying to pitch them in the zone, that type of thing,” Jacoby said a couple of days before his return. “And is our approach conducive to how they’re being pitched, that’s really all.

“I like it out in the dugout a lot better. There’s no interaction with the players and no talk. You just sit there and watch.”

REYES SET TO REHAB: Jose Reyes will join the triple-A Buffalo Bisons in Toledo to begin a rehabilitation assignment Thursday.

The shortstop is coming back from a cracked rib and oblique strain and has taken part in full batting practice sessions the past few days in preparation.