TORONTO -- Aaron Sanchez’s repertoire arguably was as dominant as it has been since 2016, and yet he still wasn’t able to avoid the one big inning, which has been plaguing him for most of the season.

Sanchez racked up 11 strikeouts, one shy of a career high, but allowed five runs in a 5-1 loss to the White Sox on Sunday afternoon at Rogers Centre. He was unhittable for much of the afternoon, with the exception of a five-run fourth inning where everything fell apart and led to the Blue Jays’ seventh loss over their last eight games.

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The 26-year-old scattered nine hits and two walks over six innings. Five of those hits came in the fourth, including a two-run homer by Yonder Alonso and a three-run shot by Tim Anderson. The 11 strikeouts were the most by Sanchez since June 7, 2016, when he set a career-high with 12 vs. the Tigers. There were lots of positives to take away from the outing, but the rough stretch midway through overshadowed almost everything else.

“I just have to make pitches, that’s what it comes down to,” Sanchez said after his team finished up a 1-5 homestand. “You try to limit the damage every inning, and that one just got away.”

One takeaway from the series finale was that Sanchez’s curveball was, by far, the most effective it has been all year. Sanchez went to the pitch 30 times, generating nine swinging strikes and two called strikes. According to Statcast, five of Sanchez’s 11 strikeouts came on the curveball, and it marked the first time this season that he struck out more than six. Sanchez threw 103 pitches in the finale with 18 four-seam fastballs, 26 changeups and 29 sinkers.

The downside to Sanchez’s outing is that when the White Sox made contact, they didn’t miss. Chicago put 10 balls in play with exit velocities above 100 mph, including four in the fourth inning, with two of them leaving the ballpark for home runs. That’s what made Sanchez’s outing such a mixed bag. When he was hitting his spots, Sanchez was dominant. When he wasn’t, the White Sox were teeing off like it was batting practice.

“Just bad pitch selection,” said Sanchez, who has a 3.75 ERA in nine starts. “A couple of ground balls off the end of the bat to start the rally. Everything was up. The homer was leaked back middle, the changeup was up, and that’s what happens in the big leagues. When you don’t locate pitches, they get hit a long way.”

The Blue Jays’ offensive woes carried over into another day. Toronto has scored two runs or fewer in six of its last seven games and eight of its last 10. Chicago right-hander Lucas Giolito was the latest beneficiary, as he allowed an RBI single to Rowdy Tellez in the first inning and not much else. Giolito scattered four hits and a walk while striking out eight over seven almost flawless innings.

Toronto has now lost 10 of its last 12 games after going 7-2 over its previous nine. The latest slump has dropped the Blue Jays’ record to a season-low eight games below .500. Toronto will now take a much-needed day off on Monday before heading to San Francisco for a mini two-game Interleague Play series vs. the Giants.

“Everybody is struggling at the same time,” Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said. “I was looking at our lineup, the last five guys are hitting .200, .206, .170. It’s tough to get the lineup around again because it’s too many guys struggling at the same time. When you’re down by four, it seems like 10, and that’s just not a good feeling. That’s where we are right now.”