This story was excerpted from Keegan Matheson’s Blue Jays Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Toronto’s rotation is hurting. It’s no secret.

The loss of Hyun Jin Ryu has been softened by Ross Stripling stepping up once again, but José Berríos is struggling, allowing eight runs over just 2 2/3 innings his last time out. The same goes for Yusei Kikuchi, who lasted just two innings Saturday against the Brewers and didn’t throw a full five frames in any of his five June starts.

With the doubleheader against the Rays coming this weekend, shuffling Kikuchi out of the rotation for a start may not even be an option.

“We have to add another starter this week just to cover that many games,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “And they aren’t seven-inning doubleheaders, either.”

Asked if it would be a candidate already on the roster, like Maximo Castillo, or someone from Triple-A, like Thomas Hatch, Montoyo doubled up his answer with a smile.

“It could be,” he said to each.

Fixing Kikuchi is a top priority, though. Berríos has a track record of remarkable consistency in MLB and is at least locating the strike zone, so there’s still some optimism that his problems will correct soon, but Kikuchi's are more worrying as he battles his control and his confidence in his pitches.

“Every time he struggles, they’re always working in the bullpen to make adjustments and stuff,” Montoyo said. “Of course, he hasn’t been able to do the adjustments, but they did some flat ground [work] yesterday and Pete [Walker] said they felt good about it, so we’ll see.”