TORONTO -- One day after Anthony Kay was scratched from what would have been his final start of the season for the Blue Jays on Tuesday, the 24-year-old left-hander still has more questions than answers about his ailment.

Kay, Toronto’s No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, began experiencing some discomfort on Monday night, and found himself unable to work through the pain to take the mound for his turn in the rotation.

“I was just experiencing some soreness in my side and back area,” Kay said. “We’re still trying to figure it out a little bit, and [we’re] really unaware of where it came from and how it happened. … We don’t think it’s muscular, we think it’s a little bit deeper than that, but it’s not a big issue. It’s just something that’s unusual.”

The area of discomfort is on the same side as the southpaw’s throwing arm, and it’s something Kay has never experienced before, which has led to some of the uncertainty surrounding the issue. Though it seems unlikely for the young hurler to appear in Toronto’s final series against the Rays, he hasn’t ruled it out.

“They said if I feel good enough to go, I’m fine,” Kay said. “It’s just one of those things. It’s not going to affect me throwing or anything like that, it’s just discomfort. If I feel comfortable, then I’ll be able to go.”

After a 15-inning win over the Orioles on Monday, the rookie pitcher was looking forward to taking on the American League East foe on Tuesday, to eat some innings and help out a bullpen that threw 11 frames the night before, and he was especially disappointed in his inability to get on the hill under the circumstances.

“I really wanted to go out there and pitch,” Kay said. “Even when I tested it out yesterday, I told Nikki [Huffman, the team’s head athletic trainer] -- especially after the 15-inning game -- I really wanted to go out there because it sucked for the bullpen. They had to eat nine innings. So I was still really trying to push to go out there, but they weren’t having any of that.”

After being added to Toronto’s roster when it expanded in September, Kay got into three games in the Majors and made two starts for the Blue Jays. The lefty threw 14 innings, allowed nine runs and five walks, and struck out 13.

“I feel pretty good,” Kay said of his time with Toronto. “I feel like I showed what I can do and hopefully I come back in 2020 strong. Hopefully I can go out there and hopefully I showed Charlie [Montoyo, Toronto’s manager] and Pete [Walker, the Blue Jays’ pitching coach] enough that I can at least compete for a job next year.”

Montoyo’s MVP

With an ever-changing roster throughout the season and plenty of excitement among the newcomers the Blue Jays have welcomed during the year, Toronto’s manager looked to the bullpen when asked who he might consider to be his most valuable player.

“Sam [Gaviglio] is pretty close,” Montoyo said. “That guy is close to 100 innings and that’s awesome. He’s done a great job for us this year. … Sammy has done everything for us.”

Gaviglio has been a workhorse among the relief corps for the Blue Jays, the 29-year-old right-hander getting into 51 games and throwing 95 innings as the long man in middle relief. Over that span, Gaviglio has posted a 4.55 ERA with a 1.10 WHIP to go with 21 walks and 88 strikeouts.

Late-season roster additions

After two bullpen days in the first two games of the three-game series against Baltimore, Toronto added two arms to the roster ahead of Wednesday’s matchup, recalling Yennsy Diaz from Double-A New Hampshire and selecting Ryan Dull’s contract.

In order to make room for Dull, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was placed on the 60-day injured list following the appendectomy he underwent on Monday.