NEW YORK -- Sean Reid-Foley is not a finished product. He still has a long way to go before he can be considered a bona fide Major League pitcher, but with the Blue Jays an afterthought in the American League East, they have a unique opportunity to ride the highs and lows with one of their prized assets.
Reid-Foley was hit hard, early and often in an 11-6 loss to the Yankees on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. For a while, it looked like Reid-Foley might not even make it out of the second inning, but manager John Gibbons showed a lot of patience and seemed adamant about letting the 22-year-old righty work through his issues.

The final result wasn't pretty, as Reid-Foley allowed eight runs (six earned) on seven hits and three walks in a game that got out of hand quickly. But the outing also represented where the Blue Jays are headed. For the immediate future, Toronto isn't focused on wins and losses as much as it is on development. So despite the struggles, Reid-Foley was permitted to work through his issues in the hopes that it might pay off down the road.
"It was obviously frustrating, but I felt fine out there," Reid-Foley said after the second start of his career. "I just got behind in counts and threw balls that missed over the plate, and I obviously paid for them. They took advantage of my mistakes. Overall, I felt fine. I just have to move on and get ready for the next one now."

New York scored two runs in the first, one in the second and two more in the third before Gibbons stepped out of the dugout and headed to the mound. Virtually everyone in the ballpark assumed that he was about to make a pitching change, but instead, Gibbons offered words of encouragement. He did all of the talking, as Reid-Foley listened and nodded, until home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt broke up the meeting.
It was a rare move for Gibbons, who normally only goes to the mound when he's making a move for the bullpen. In the end, the talk didn't really change much. New York scored another run in the third, added one more in the fourth and another in the fifth before Reid-Foley was pulled from the game. He has now allowed 11 runs (nine earned) over 9 1/3 innings in his big league career.

"The only way you figure things out is to stay on the field and pitch," Gibbons said. "That was my intention. Plus, you can't [tire out] your 'pen either. Those guys have had a long year as well. But yeah, I think it's important, and it's only going to make him better."
Toronto's No. 10 prospect, according to MLB Pipeline, didn't receive much help from his defense, as both Devon Travis and Teoscar Hernandez could not complete a pair of makeable plays that led to two runs. Even so, Reid-Foley also gave up more than his fair share of hard contact, yielding home runs to Didi Gregorius, Giancarlo Stanton and Miguel Andujar. Reid-Foley also battled some control problems, recording a pair of wild pitches.

The Blue Jays were trailing, 8-0, by the time Reid-Foley left the game, but Toronto battled back with a five-run sixth inning to make things interesting. Justin Smoak, Danny Jansen and Billy McKinney all had RBI singles, but Yankees right-hander Luis Severino still picked up the victory after he allowed two runs on six hits over five-plus innings of work. Smoak, Jansen, McKinney and veteran Curtis Granderson all finished with multiple hits. Kevin Pillar added an RBI double in the ninth.
"It definitely meant a lot," Reid-Foley said of being allowed to keep pitching despite the lopsided score. "I can definitely see that [Gibbons] is pulling for me. Everybody is pulling for me, letting me grind it out, and I was fortunate enough to work into the fifth inning after giving up [eight runs]. It was good."

McKINNEY DEBUTS FOR BLUE JAYS
McKinney had a bit of a whirlwind afternoon while making his Blue Jays debut, in which he went 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBIs. He impressed in the top of the sixth inning with a single that cleared the bases, thanks to a throwing error from Neil Walker. The downside to the play, however, came on the basepaths, where McKinney was thrown out at third base. He was also picked off first base in the first.
The 23-year-old McKinney admitted after the game that he might have been trying to do too much in his first game for the Blue Jays. It was a combination of wanting to impress his new teammates, plus the added stress of facing his former team. Gibbons expects those jitters to be out of the way now that the debut is in his rearview mirror, and McKinney seems to expect the same.

"It was a lot of fun, it was a great experience," McKinney said. "Especially getting to play against some old teammates, but unfortunately we didn't get the win, and hopefully we'll get back out there tomorrow and get one. … I feel like I did all right. I felt comfortable and confident. I made a mistake on the bags and I have to make up for that, but other than that, I felt comfortable and felt like I did all right."
SOUND SMART
Jansen became the 11th player in Blue Jays franchise history to record at least one hit in each of his first four career games. Ryan Goins in 2013 was the last Toronto rookie to accomplish the feat, and Jansen is the only catcher on the list. Jansen finished 2-for-4 with an RBI double for the second multi-hit game of his career.

UP NEXT
Left-hander Ryan Borucki (2-2, 3.29 ERA) will take the mound when the Blue Jays close out their three-game series against the Yankees on Sunday afternoon, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET. Former Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ (13-6, 3.86 ERA) will get a chance to face his old team just a few weeks after he was traded to New York in exchange for Brandon Drury and McKinney. This will be Happ's first outing against Toronto since 2015.