Bautista misses fifth straight game with sore shoulder

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Jose Bautista missed his fifth consecutive game on Sunday afternoon with a sore right shoulder, but the Blue Jays are still hoping that he will be able to avoid the disabled list.

Bautista remains day to day and the expectation is that he should be able to DH at some point during the club's upcoming three-game series in Boston. If Bautista's shoulder doesn't improve, there remains an outside chance the club will have to make a roster move, but that's not expected at this point.

The 34-year-old has been dealing with a sore shoulder for a couple of weeks but he aggravated the injury while making a throw to first base during Tuesday's win over the Orioles. Michael Saunders will continue to start in right field during Bautista's absence with Kevin Pillar and Dalton Pompey in the other two outfield spots.

In other injury news, the Blue Jays still don't have a timetable for the return of infielder Maicer Izturis. The veteran second baseman has yet to play this season since suffering a strained groin during Spring Training and more recently he has experienced knee soreness.

"He's rehabbing right now, groin's getting better," Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. "A bit of soreness in his knee, so he's taking it a little bit slower there. He's not in games yet. He's progressing, but not anywhere close to games."

Even when Izturis does return, it's not immediately clear how -- or even if -- he still fits on the roster. Izturis entered Spring Training as the favorite to win the starting job at second base, but that job has since been claimed by rookie Devon Travis while Ryan Goins has assumed the utility infielder role.