DUNEDIN, Fla. -- It wasn’t just frustrating for Blake Snell that he walked four of the five batters he faced in a start that lasted just one-third of an inning during an 8-3 loss to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark on Monday, his second outing of this spring after a cortisone shot in his left elbow on Feb. 28 forced him to restart his Spring Training buildup.

It was frustrating that those types of results played out while Snell's arm wasn’t ailing whatsoever. But that’s also the good news.

“When my arm feels that good, I can’t allow four walks,” Snell said. “That’s just ridiculous, honestly. Four walks, that’s brutal.”

But Snell, manager Kevin Cash and pitching coach Kyle Snyder will all take those types of results at this time of year in exchange for the clean bill of health that came with it. Tuesday, the day after the start, will be even more important, though, to see how Snell's elbow responds to the outing.

“There’s no issue about that,” Snell affirmed on Monday. “None at all.”

Snell’s outing was off from the get-go; his first pitch, a fastball that clocked in at 97 mph, nearly sailed past catcher Michael Perez. His four-seam fastball topped at 98 mph when his career average hovers around 95.

“He probably went out there with the thought that, I don’t know, putting too much on to show that he was healthy,” Cash said. “… But we checked the box that he’s back out there. Looked very, very much healthy.”

Snell said he had a good feel for his slider, which was about the only pitch that he threw to induce a swing and miss against Toronto. All told, the lefty threw 22 pitches against an “A” Blue Jays lineup, only six for strikes.

Frustration for Snell was also based on the fact that the cortisone shot essentially forced him restart his spring program. He threw one inning on Feb. 26 before receiving the treatment two days later after reporting the discomfort. If his Spring Training wouldn't have been interrupted, Monday's outing would have ideally been closer to four or five innings for Snell.

Snell missed two months in 2019 due to surgery to remove loose bodies in his left elbow. The procedure was sandwiched between what was, by Snell's standards, a lackluster season. He registered a 4.29 ERA in 23 starts to follow up his American League Cy Young Award-winning campaign in '18.

The lefty believed he was finally getting in his rhythm of playing catch every day and feeling prepared for a bounce-back 2020 when he was forced to hit pause on Feb. 28.

After Monday's outing, in which he felt he learned a lot about himself -- according to Snell, his legs weren't positioned correctly, he let calls affect his mentality on the mound and he was opening up too much while throwing his fastball -- Snell feels like he can use the remaining three and a half weeks to make sure he's ready for Opening Day.

“It’s time to lock in and get going, because it’s a big year for us and I got to be on it,” Snell said.

So consider Monday a tuneup of a different sort. Though Snell was displeased with the results, he was even more upset with letting himself get away from his process and mental fortitude.

“It’s good to see failure, because I was feeling so good and so confident,” Snell said. “To fail is always good, because that’s what I'm going to learn the most from. To go out there, feel that great and fail, I think I’m going to learn a lot more about that.”