TORONTO -- Despite a valiant effort to battle through his control issues in an attempt to save the White Sox bullpen some innings, Dylan Covey couldn’t find a way out of the early hole he dug himself into against the Blue Jays in Friday night’s 4-3 loss at Rogers Centre.

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Making his second start of the season -- in place of the injured Carlos Rodon -- Covey found himself in trouble in the first inning, issuing back-to-back two-out walks before Randal Grichuk hit his sixth home run of the season to give the home team a two-run advantage.

After allowing a leadoff homer in the second frame to Teoscar Hernandez, Covey minimized the damage, though three more free passes and several loud outs drove up his pitch count and forced an early exit. Before his night came to an end, the right-hander finished 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on three hits with five walks and three strikeouts.

“I didn’t have my best stuff,” Covey said. “Two-out walks hurt. I’m OK with giving up a solo home run here and there, but I’ve got to cut back on those two-out walks. Different ballgame if those guys aren’t on and they hit the homer, just a different ballgame -- doesn’t put us in a hole that early.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today but I feel like I did what I could with what I had, and obviously [I've] got to throw more strikes.”

While Covey felt as though something was a little off with his mechanics on Friday, it was the struggle to locate his cutter that offered the biggest blows, with both home runs he allowed coming on the pitch.

“As we were talking in the dugout, his cutter wasn’t biting as sharp as we’d like it to and he was getting some pitches that were coming back a little bit, catching too much of the plate,” White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. “Obviously, giving up [three] runs after two outs in the first and then a run in the second, and then he was able to kind of settle down and get through 4 2/3.

“[Covey and catcher Welington Castillo] started to go to his split, which was a little bit more effective, and being able to get through that. But again, he continues to work. He’s going to continue to get better, I believe, and we’ll trust that as time goes on, he’ll be able to eat more innings.”

The White Sox held a brief lead in the opening frame, thanks to back-to-back doubles from Yoan Moncada and Jose Abreu. Tim Anderson added a leadoff home run in the fifth inning -- his seventh of the season -- before scoring the visiting team’s third run on a groundout from Leury García in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the early deficit.

In his first start on Sunday, Covey had a no-decision in the White Sox loss to Boston. He also threw 4 2/3 innings in that outing, but against the Red Sox he allowed two runs, walked three and struck out two.

Though the results weren’t there for Covey on Friday night, Renteria believes the 27-year-old is learning from each of his experiences on the mound, and will get better as the trust in his stuff increases.

“He’s continued to work on the same thing, just commanding the strike zone,” Renteria said before Friday’s game. “But I think more than anything, time and experience have given him maybe greater perspective or understanding of what he can do. Most of that just comes with experience of trusting himself.”

Though Covey trusted his stuff on Friday, he knew early that he didn’t have everything in his repertoire working and that he would have to make do with what was left.

“Today was just one of those days where it wasn’t really there for me,” he said. “I trusted what I did have. After the first inning I took a step back and was like, 'All right, this is what I’ve got, I’ve got to do what I can with it.' Felt like they were hitting the ball pretty well today but just hung in there best I could and did what I could with what I had. ...

“Kept us close-ish, kept us in the game, but like I said, those two-out walks, that’s the difference in the game right there.”