TORONTO – When the Toronto Blue Jays look back at the first 13 games of the season, they see the least productive offence in baseball, injuries to three star players and a 2-11 record.

When they look forward, they see a daunting stretch of games, one that starts against reigning Cy Young winner Rick Porcello Wednesday, continues with Chris Sale Thursday and picks up in Anaheim Friday when they open a week-long road trip with consecutive fill-in starts from pitchers currently on the roster of the Buffalo Bisons.

Not particularly encouraging in either direction.

“We’re not happy with the way things are going,” centre fielder Kevin Pillar said. “This is not how we envisioned it going, but at the end of the day it’s early. We can’t sit here and use that as an excuse or crutch for much longer, but the reality is it is early. Teams go through this. It’s just unfortunate going through it at the beginning of the year – everything’s under a magnifying glass.”

The Blue Jays had a chance to build some momentum Tuesday, when Marcus Stroman started against Brian Johnson, a left-hander with one career start and a fastball that sits below 90 m.p.h. With Eduardo Rodriguez on the paternity list, the Boston Red Sox called on Johnson, an MLB depth option in Baseball America’s estimation. The Blue Jays countered with Stroman, fresh off a complete-game gem against the Milwaukee Brewers, in what appeared to be a mismatch.

The Red Sox hit Stroman hard, though, collecting 11 hits against the right-hander on their way to six runs. Johnson, meanwhile, provided five serviceable-enough innings against the Blue Jays on the way to an 8-7 Red Sox win that took nearly four hours to complete.

“It’s baseball,” Stroman said of his outing. “I’m not really worried about it, to be honest. I’ll bounce back next start.”

With 149 games remaining in the season, including 18 against Boston, the Blue Jays have lots of baseball left. Still, they’ve created a significant deficit for themselves by dropping nine games below .500 for the first time since their ill-fated 2013 campaign.

“We’re going to play better,” Pillar said. “There’s too much talent, there’s too much will, there’s too much level of compete in this room to pack it up and go home.

“Realistically you’ve got to play .500 baseball until about after the all-star break, then you turn it up a bit, you play a little bit better than .500, you find yourself in the post-season,” he added. “We’re a couple series wins from getting back to .500. It might not seem like it right now, but that’s the reality. We win 30 out of our next 45 games, we’re above .500.”

True, and yet that’s a lot to ask of any team. Consider that the Blue Jays are missing Josh Donaldson, Aaron Sanchez and J.A. Happ, and the challenge looks even more imposing.

To the Blue Jays’ credit, they scored seven runs Tuesday, including a three-run rally in the ninth inning capped by an Ezequiel Carrera pinch-hit home run. Pillar hit three doubles from the leadoff spot, Russell Martin hit his first homer of the season and Justin Smoak built on his early-season success with a double and a home run.

“There were some good signs there,” manager John Gibbons said. “It doesn’t win you anything, but it’ll happen.”

Toronto Blue Jays on Sportsnet NOW Want to stream every Blue Jays games this season? Sportsnet NOW has you covered. Catch every Blue Jays game, marquee MLB matchups, the 2017 Home Run Derby and All-Star Game, the playoffs and entire World Series.

Still, the Blue Jays have scored more than four runs just three times in 13 games. Jose Bautista‘s swinging and missing more than usual. Steve Pearce has three hits since opening day. Devon Travis has a .275 OPS. Safe to say they’re seeking answers at the plate.

Given the state of the offence, the Blue Jays need reliable pitching, and yet injuries to Sanchez and Happ will test their starting depth this weekend, when the Blue Jays visit the Angels. Casey Lawrence, who was pulled from his triple-A start after two innings Tuesday, appears to be a leading candidate to start one game. Right-handers Mat Latos, Jarrett Grube and Mike Bolsinger will earn consideration for the other start against the righty-heavy Los Angeles lineup.

First things first, though. Runs will be at a premium against the Red Sox with Porcello and Sale on the mound Wednesday and Thursday.

“It gets real tough the next couple of days, but that’s the big-leagues,” Gibbons said “That’s just the way it is at this level.”

As Pillar says, it’s technically early. But having struggled so badly for the first 13 games of their schedule, the Blue Jays must now win considerably more than their share of the remaining 149.