A.L. East Review: Blue Jays pick up ground while Rays get dealt a tough hand

May 8, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays catcher Russell Martin (55) slides into home to score on a two run single by Ezequiel Carrera (not pictured) in the eighth inning against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre. Toronto defeated Boston 7-0. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

• Toronto Blue Jays
• Overall Record: 16-15
• Last Seven: 5-2

The Blue Jays finally returned to the land of winning records thanks to a week that the team won five of its 7 games. While that hasn’t gained them much ground on the Yankees, it has kept them just three games behind New York in the A.L. East.

One cannot talk about the last week of Blue Jays play without paying homage to the performance from Russell Martin. The Jays’ catcher went off this past week, going 12 for 22 (.545) with 3 home runs, 5 RBI, and 7 runs scored.

However, the subject of this week’s post isn’t the hitting proficiency of baseball’s top scoring offense. No, we’re talking pitching, and the Blue Jays certainly made some strides in that regard. Of course, it helps when fourteen different pitchers took the ball for the Jays this week, but overall the Toronto pitching staff allowed just 21 earned runs over 62 innings of work (3.02 ERA).

Overall, the rotation saw some quality starts from Mark Buehrle, R.A. Dickey, and Aaron Sanchez. However, there is still some heavy concern with the performance of Drew Hutchison. Hutch was lit up in two outings over the last seven games, allowing 15 hits and 7 earned runs over just 9.1 innings of work. He was much better on Saturday against Boston, but his inconsistency is still a concern for a team looking for someone to step up and become the ace of the staff.

Next: What happened to Chris Tillman?