BUFFALO, N.Y. -- It was all going so well Wednesday night for the Blue Jays. Ross Stripling was a few pitches away from putting a bow on the seventh inning of a dominant outing against the Yankees, saving Toronto’s beleaguered bullpen from the spotlight.

Ten minutes later, after Gary Sánchez hit a 446-foot blast off Stripling to put the Yankees ahead, Rafael Dolis was walking off the mound with the trainer, exiting with “no sensation in his hand” and unable to feel the baseball.

The Blue Jays eventually lost, 3-2, and like so many of these recent losses, this one had layers to it. Toronto has seen this too often in 2021, as a landslide of injuries have sunk a bullpen that was once a strength. Add the group’s recent struggles from those relievers still standing, and it’s been difficult to watch.

• Box score

The Blue Jays had every opportunity late, too, with runners on second and third and nobody out in the ninth inning. It was a moment that begged for a walk-off, but Vladimir Guerrero Jr. got caught on a chopper back to Aroldis Chapman and was thrown out diving back to third, killing that momentum. The Blue Jays then thought they’d tied it up on a passed ball, too, but the umpire ruled it foul off the bat of Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and despite an argument from Charlie Montoyo, it was not reviewable.

It was a frustrating loss in a frustrating loss, but Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo -- as he always does -- is trying to focus on the broader picture.

“We’re playing good. If we’re playing bad, that’s when you get frustrated,” Montoyo said. “When you play bad, here comes the team meeting and stuff, but we’re playing good baseball. We’ve been playing teams over .500 for a month now. We don’t need to be frustrated. We’re playing good games, losing games like this. They’re tough, yes, but we’re playing good.”

Stripling’s performance was even better than his line suggests. The bases were loaded against him before he even recorded an out, and his night ended with a bang courtesy of Sánchez, but everything in between was brilliant. Stripling attacked hitters confidently, used his pitches efficiently and continued to show that his recent success isn’t a blip, but an ongoing progression that still has some momentum.

The right-hander is happy to tell you that he’s not a strikeout pitcher, but he came into Wednesday’s start averaging more than a strikeout per inning, his highest rate since his All-Star season in 2018. Stripling struck out nine Yankees over 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on just three hits and two walks. He’s gone from clinging to a rotation spot to grabbing it with both hands.

His timing couldn’t be better. Behind Hyun Jin Ryu and the exceptional season for Robbie Ray, the Blue Jays need something. Prospect Alek Manoah has lived up to the hype, but Steven Matz is now on the COVID-19 IL after testing positive Monday. The Blue Jays need Stripling to keep a rotation spot stable for a while, but on nights like this, he’s doing a little more.

“It was like watching somebody throwing a no-hitter,” Montoyo said. “He was on. He dealt the whole time. That’s his fourth straight good outing, and that’s so good for us. He’s pitching great. He got in trouble after the error in the first inning, with only one run, and then he just dealt the whole time.”

That early error belonged to Joe Panik, his first of two on the night. After the game, Stripling spoke at length about the second one and how he reacted to it. The broadcast caught Stripling shouting toward Panik after he misplayed a barehand move on a grounder off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton in the sixth. Stripling then slammed his hands to the ground and shouted more at Panik. The outburst was unexpected, and one that Stripling regrets, calling it the most disrespectful thing he’s ever done on a baseball field.

“I just completely showed him up,” Stripling said. “I literally can’t explain it. Honestly, I’m mortified by it. I can’t stand that that’s the way it went. I apologized to Joe individually. I even addressed the team because I feel so bad about it. That can’t happen, that should never happen, and it will never happen again for me, I can promise you that. Joe, the awesome veteran and person that he is, took it in stride and said, ‘No hard feelings,’ but you can’t do anything worse than that to a teammate, and I feel terrible.”

Montoyo said Stripling didn’t need to say a word to him, understanding the emotions.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he owned it and talked to you guys about it, and talked to Panik,” Montoyo said. “He’s a good man. He’s a good human being. I’m sure that because of the emotion of the game, he probably did that from emotion and didn’t mean it, then he owned it. I wasn’t surprised that he owned it.”