blowout win Dodgers toy with and embarrass Blue Jays pitching in 16-3

The Blue Jays have yet to announce a starter.

Thursday: Kenta Maeda (8-8, 4.18 ERA) vs. TBD

First pitch: 7:10 p.m. PT // SportsNet LA

After struggling early in Atlanta, Maeda finished strong during his last start. He finished the game with nine strikeouts, the second most he’s had this season. He’s two starts removed from arguably his best outing of the year, where he threw seven scoreless innings with no walks against Arizona.

Much like Buehler, Maeda has been much better at Dodger Stadium this season. In 11 starts, he’s gone 6-3 with a 2.84 ERA and 0.85 WHIP. His strikeout-to-walk ratio is nearly twice as good at home as well.

There isn’t a Blue Jays player remaining that was on the team the previous time there was a visit to Dodger Stadium on the schedule.

And despite the beauty of the locale and the history of the place, it was an unsightly return to the field where the World Series trophy has been awarded to the visiting team each of the past two seasons.

n fact, it was ugly, bordering on embarrassing, as the young Jays were throttled 16-3 by the two-time defending National League champs on Tuesday night. It was an inter-league contest that got out of hand when starter Sean Reid-Foley imploded in the third inning and went downhill from there.

The inconsistent right-hander lasted just 1.2 innings (following opener Buddy Boshers) and allowed five runs on five hits and a pair of walks. The big damage came on a pair of home runs — first to A.J. Pollock and another to Chris Taylor — as the Dodgers put up five runs in the third.

That was merely the beginning of the barrage, however, an attack that included five home runs, 15 hits and seven walks.

Given how deep he went into that ‘pen on Tuesday, however, it could be a challenge. Montoyo had to burn through seven pitchers in the blowout loss as Reid-Foley, Neil Ramirez and Justin Shafer all contributed to multi-run innings early on.

And then it got silly. Really silly. Perhaps hoping to have something left for the rest of the series, Montoyo went to utility man Richard Urena — called up from Buffalo earlier in the day — to pitch the eighth inning.

It went about as well as you might imagine, which is to say awful. Urena allowed a double, a pair of singles, a home run and put another batter on board when he hit him with a pitch. Urena exited his pitching debut with an ERA of 36.00.