DUNEDIN, FLA.—Aaron Sanchez’s “stomach dropped immediately.”

R.A. Dickey called it “a sad situation.”

Alex Anthopoulos said “we mourn a bit and then we get back to work.”

The loss of Jays starter Marcus Stroman to a season-ending knee injury cut right through to the heart of the organization.

“I was there,” said Sanchez, referring to Tuesday’s routine bunt fielding drill where Stroman tore his left anterior cruciate ligament.

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“I don’t know if he got caught in a rut or if he called off (third baseman) Josh Donaldson or if they collided, but (Stroman) fell to the (artificial turf) and clutched his knee.”

Anthopoulos, whose off-season improvements have raised hopes that the Jays will contend for their first playoff spot since 1993, held a press conference to announce that Stroman is expected to miss “the rest of the season.”

“To lose a guy like Stroman, it’s a significant loss for us,” Anthopoulos said. “I talked to Marcus today and he’s torn up about it. He was crushed . . . he’s probably the best athlete on the team. He’s the last guy you’d expect it to happen to … bad luck, I guess.”

Later in the day, Stroman took to Twitter to share his feelings: “Beyond devastated. Not being able to compete with my brothers each and every day is extremely disappointing. Still can’t believe it.”

Jays manager John Gibbons was also on hand and saw Stroman and Donaldson go for the bunted ball down the third-base line.

“It was a bunt play and he got hung up on the turf or something,” Gibbons said. “It was definitely the worst-case scenario. We caught a break with (Michael) Saunders, but we didn’t catch one with Marcus.”

Canadian-born outfielder Saunders stepped on a sprinkler head at the Jays minor league complex during a workout early in spring training and tore the meniscus in his left knee. Originally expected to be out until the all-star break, Saunders might instead resume on-field baseball activities this week.

Meanwhile, first baseman Edwin Encarnacion had an MRI on his sore back Monday, which showed inflammation. Encarnacion was still worried Tuesday, saying he has never been on the disabled list because of a back injury but has been day-to-day six times with back-related problems. The Jays said Encarnacion will rest for three or four days, then need another two or three to get back up to speed.

Stroman, though, is all but certainly done for the season, Anthopoulos said. The right-hander whose rapid rise from Class-A was one of the best Jays stories in recent years, will get a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews.

Stroman suffered his injury on a half-field behind the pitchers’ warm-up area. That field has artificial turf, the only one at the stadium without natural grass.

The fact that Stroman is as well-liked as any player in the Jays clubhouse made the news that much harder.

“He’s uplifting when he’s around. He makes everyone feel better,” Gibbons said.

Stroman broke down in tears when he was assessed in the trainers room.

Sanchez and Stroman are perhaps the closest teammates on the club. While Stroman rose to the big leagues first, Sanchez soon followed. They made a pact to push each other to succeed in Toronto.

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“We talked about that before,” Sanchez said. “We wanted to do it together, side by side. But things change. It’s a huge blow, but we have to move on.”

“I watch him all the time,” added Sanchez. “This dude works, day in and day out, harder than anyone . . . to get cut short (after) the season he had last year as a starter, he’s a huge part of this team. I think we are all finding it hard. I’m taking it harder. You all know the relationship we have.

“I’ve got to make sure he’s fine mentally. He takes a lot of pride in what he does. It’s tough for him. It’s tough for me. It’s tough for this team. I felt he was in for such a huge season. It’s such a disappointment.”

Dickey, the Jays’ veteran starter, also reflected on the freak accidents in training camp that claimed Saunders and now Stroman.

“It’s not a case of somebody doing their job the wrong way,” Dickey said. “We’ll need all of spring training to figure this out. We’ll take our time and I’m sure Alex (Anthopoulos) is working the phones. We have good people here. We’ll figure it out.”

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