Coming off a hot April and some recent stumbles, Friday’s start was exactly what Steven Matz needed to calm the waters. The bullpen behind him couldn’t slam the door shut, though, finally faltering after its strong start to the season.

Matz struck out nine Phillies batters over five innings of shutout ball in the 5-1 loss at TD Ballpark, as everything suddenly looked like April again for the lefty. That’s when Matz opened the season a perfect 4-0 with a 2.31 ERA, but things have not gone quite as swimmingly since then.

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Over Matz’s last three outings entering Friday, he had posted a 9.22 ERA while opponents hit .371 against him. The left-hander still managed to work a full five innings in his last two starts and never blatantly lost control of his pitches, but there was something that just wasn’t clicking. Matz insisted he was only a slight adjustment away, and on Friday, he found it.

“I want to hit the ground running now with this, and continue where I’m at with my stuff,” Matz said. “I still want to get deeper into that game and be more efficient with my pitches. Those guys over there got me deep into some counts, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Both Matz and manager Charlie Montoyo mentioned his improved composure on the mound, too. Matz hadn’t exactly let it boil over recently, but his frustration had been obvious and understandable. Friday was a looser, more level version of Matz, and it worked to his advantage.

Chewing through those five innings on 106 pitches was critical, too, despite a long third inning, and it was the most pitches a Blue Jays starter has thrown in almost two calendar years. The Blue Jays were working with a shortened bullpen after Ryan Borucki hit the IL just prior to first pitch, and that bullpen has already been asked to carry a heavy load while it juggles a new injury seemingly daily. This group was due to run out of gas eventually, though, and that’s what happened in the seventh inning.

After Trent Thornton walked a pair of Phillies in the seventh and handed the ball off to Tim Mayza with two outs, Mayza walked two of his own, including one with the bases loaded, to tie the game at 1-1. Rhys Hoskins then cleared the bases with a double, giving the Phillies a three-run lead and washing out Matz’s performance.

“[Mayza]’s just not throwing strikes and he’s pitching behind in the count, but the stuff is still there,” Montoyo said. “He’ll get it back. He’s going to get a chance to get it back, too.”

It’s difficult to overstate just how many moving pieces this bullpen has had to deal with. It all started when Kirby Yates, the presumed closer, was lost for the season to Tommy John surgery, and it has only snowballed from there. Coming out of Spring Training, the Blue Jays expected some combination of Jordan Romano, Rafael Dolis, Julian Merryweather, David Phelps and Tyler Chatwood to handle the high-leverage innings.

All five have hit the IL already this season, and Romano is currently the only healthy arm of the group.

“You’ve got to wash it away,” Montoyo said. “We keep losing guys, but other guys keep stepping up. That’s what we’ve done until today, with different guys stepping up. Hopefully they keep it going, because it was a bad night tonight for the bullpen.”

With so many of those back-end arms down, the Blue Jays have been forced to move middle relievers into high-leverage roles, which is what happened on Friday. Some inconsistencies are inevitable and don’t change the fact that this group has been one of the best stories of the season for the Blue Jays, but it has to be a concern for the club moving forward. Friday’s loss requires a broader look at the pitching staff, too, and how much weight is being leaned on the bullpen.

The Blue Jays have already run out a handful of “bullpen days,” and as they’ve cycled through some young starters with mixed results, there have been some unplanned bullpen days mixed in as well. Long relievers have taken the brunt of that work, but outside of some recent gems from Hyun Jin Ryu and Robbie Ray, there haven’t been many nights where Toronto’s relievers could kick their feet up and watch.

The one bright spot of the evening from the offense was Vladimir Guerrero Jr., to no one’s surprise. Guerrero launched his ninth home run of the season, an opposite-field shot, to put the Blue Jays ahead in the sixth. However, that lead evaporated in the next half-inning. Matz, the bullpen and the rest of the rotation will need more help than one solo home run going forward.