BUFFALO—This was to be just “a little touch-up” for Drew Hutchison, as Blue Jays manager John Gibbons described it last week. Limited to 75 pitches or five innings, the Jays’ 25-year-old right-hander — currently on an unwanted sojourn in the minor leagues — made a spot start for Triple-A Buffalo on Sunday to keep up some semblance of a routine as he awaits his return to the Jays this weekend.

While boxscore results aren’t as important in an outing like this, Hutchison was likely less than thrilled by his performance on Sunday. He reached his pitch limit after just four innings, allowing two runs on three hits — including a first-inning homer — and three walks. He also struck out four.

It had been a full week since he last pitched and Hutchison admitted he was a little “rusty” on Sunday, which may explain the high number of walks. “I felt like once I got in a groove I was better at the end.”

Other than during his rehab assignment following Tommy John surgery, Sunday marked Hutchison’s first trip back to the minors since he made his big-league debut in April 2012. He was squeezed out of the big-league rotation last week as an odd number of off-days allowed the Jays to go with just four starting pitchers on their current road trip.

Despite pitching well in his last two starts before being sent down — allowing a combined three earned runs over 13 2/3 innings against Oakland and New York — Hutchison was still the odd man out, given not only his season-long woes but his particular struggles on the road.

He admitted Sunday he was surprised by the demotion given how well he had pitched his last two starts. “It was probably the best I’d felt (all year),” he said. “But it is what it is. When it comes down to it, you can’t give anybody a reason to send you down and I had done that by the inconsistencies I had. The two starts before (being demoted) I wasn’t, but up until that point I had been inconsistent and — as you guys have talked about — wasn’t good on the road. Whenever you are in a position that I’m in — or really, any athlete — you can’t give anybody a reason to send you out. And given my inconsistencies earlier in the year, I had done that.”

Hutchison has been terrible away from the Rogers Centre this year —a 9.00 ERA on the road, compared to a 2.57 mark at home — but that seems more a reflection of the vagaries of small-sample statistics than anything more meaningful. The bigger problem with Hutchison, as it has always been throughout his young career, is an overall lack of consistency. He’ll throw a complete-game shutout on one night and won’t make it out of the fourth inning his next time out. The Jays don’t know what they’re going to get from him start to start.

Hutchison is expected to return to the Jays on Saturday to pitch against the Detroit Tigers. But the bigger questions about his short-term future in the rotation are still looming. For example, could he be bumped out by Marcus Stroman, who is pitching in another simulated game on Monday and is eyeing a September return? “Closer and closer,” Stroman tweeted on Saturday.

The Jays’ budding ace was believed to be lost for the season when he tore the ACL in his left knee during spring training, but the outgoing 24-year-old stormed through his rehab and looks poised to make an emotional comeback amid the Jays first pennant race in more than 20 years.

Stroman is being stretched out as a starter, but could also end up in the bullpen. After Monday’s simulated game, he will throw another on Friday. That would give him just enough time to make one or two minor-league rehab starts for Triple-A Buffalo. With one extra day of rest, it would also put him on the same schedule as Hutchison.

Further down the road, if the Jays make the post-season and can again go down to a four-man rotation, will Hutchison move to the bullpen or be left off the roster entirely?

That’s what he will be pitching for when he returns to the Jays on Saturday — and for the remainder of his starts this season.