Perez likely headed to disabled list

TORONTO -- Juan Perez is likely headed for the disabled list after he suffered a left-elbow injury during the seventh inning of Toronto's 14-6 loss to the A's on Friday night.

Perez was removed after he induced a ground ball off the bat of Yoenis Cespedes. Blue Jays manager John Gibbons and head trainer George Poulis immediately ran onto the field and he was taken out shortly afterwards.

The 34-year-old received an initial diagnosis during the game, but the full report won't be available until he undergoes further tests on Saturday morning.

"Well it doesn't look good, but there's nothing definite yet," Gibbons said late Friday night. "They'll re-examine it tomorrow but it doesn't look good."

Perez became one of the surprise stories of the Blue Jays this season when he exceeded expectations by securing a permanent spot on the 25-man roster. He responded to the opportunity by breaking a 35-year-old record with 22 1/3 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run to begin a Blue Jays career.

The Dominican Republic native didn't allow an earned run until the streak finally ended against the Dodgers on July 24. That surpassed the previous mark of 21 1/3 scoreless innings set by Victor Cruz from June 24-31, 1978.

Perez often was forced to throw a lot of innings as part of an extremely overworked Blue Jays bullpen. All but seven of his 19 appearances were more than one inning, and he threw 56 pitches in just 1 2/3 innings on Friday before suffering the injury.