Wednesday was a tough day for Long County native Dustin McGowan and his Toronto Blue Jays, as they were hammered by the Cleveland Indians, 15-4, in Toronto.  
McGowan got the start, but once again struggled to stay on the mound as he only lasted four innings, giving up nine hits and four earned runs.  He also had a hard time finding the strike zone, only striking out three batters and walking two.
But McGowan wasn’t the only Jays pitcher to struggle. Four Toronto relief pitchers combined to allow 13 more hits and 11 more runs, 10 of which were earned.
As of Thursday morning, McGowan had a 2-2 record and a 5.08 earned-run average in eight starts. Like the other Toronto pitchers, he has struggled at home, where opposing batters are crushing him with a .392 batting average to go with 9.19 ERA and 2.23 combined walks and hits per inning.
After the game McGowan said, in an MLB.com story by Gregor Chisholm, “Just one of those nights where they were waffling the ball … made some bad pitches, got waffled, made some good pitches got waffled. Just have to tip your hat to them.”
With the loss, Toronto fell below .500 and had a 20-21 record as of Thursday morning. Though the Blue Jays are fourth in the American League Eastern Division, they still are only 1 ½ games behind leader Baltimore, which has a 20-18 mark.  
McGowan is off until next Wednesday, when he is scheduled to face the Boston Red Sox in Boston.
According to ESPN.com, the New York Yankees and Boston were tied for second in the division with 20-19 records, which put each team a half-game back of Baltimore. Tampa Bay is at the division’s bottom at 18-23.