TORONTO -- At spring training, Toronto Blue Jays reliever Drew Storen was in the mix for taking over as team closer before settling for the setup role.
He could soon be in danger of losing his eighth-inning spot if he doesn't overcome his inconsistent start to the season.
Storen struggled in his brief appearance Sunday at Rogers Centre, putting on the eventual tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers came back for a 4-2 win over Toronto.
"You're going to have these stretches and it's a matter of how you look at it," Storen said. "You can get caught up in, 'I'm not catching breaks' or whatever. Just keep your head down and do your thing.
"There's a reason why I've had the career I have."
After starter Marco Estrada turned in a strong seven-inning performance, the Blue Jays scored a run in the bottom of the seventh to take a 2-1 lead.
But Chase Utley led off with a walk in the eighth and moved to third base on a ground-rule double by Corey Seager. That was it for Storen, as Blue Jays manager John Gibbons turned to closer Roberto Osuna earlier than he would have liked.
Osuna struck out Justin Turner before intentionally walking Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases. Yasmani Grandal hit a sacrifice fly to bring home the tying run and Howie Kendrick put the Dodgers ahead with an RBI single.
"I wasn't really going to wait around to see his slider or anything like that," Kendrick said. "He left a fastball out over the middle and I was able to put a good swing on it."
Los Angeles (16-15) tacked on an insurance run in the ninth. Reliever Chris Hatcher (3-3) worked one inning for the win and Kenley Jansen earned his 11th save.
Storen, who was acquired in an off-season trade with Washington for outfielder Ben Revere, was charged with both runs and fell to 0-2 on the season.
"I'm just frustrated with today," Storen said. "You don't want to lose the ball game there. But tomorrow the sun comes up and you get right back after it."
Storen's earned-run average rose to 9.00 and opponents are hitting .367 against him. He had 29 saves and a 3.44 ERA in 58 appearances last season with the Nationals.
"We do need him, that's just a fact. ... we're a month in," Gibbons said. "We're trying to build something, build some confidence and get something rolling. Could I have left him in there to see if he could have worked his way out? Yeah, but we got Osuna waiting there.
"But yeah, we're constantly looking at how things are run and trying to figure out what the best way to go is."
Estrada -- who allowed just three hits -- was matched by Dodgers starter Ross Stripling, who gave up one hit and one earned run over six innings. The Dodgers took two of three in the weekend interleague series to leave Toronto (16-17) with a 4-3 mark on their homestand.
After a pair of clean innings, Kevin Pillar put Toronto on the board in the third. He led off with a double, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a Ryan Goins grounder to the right side.
The Dodgers put their first runner on in the fourth inning when Utley drew a walk. After a Seager strikeout, Turner reached on a Troy Tulowitzki error.
Estrada responded by catching Gonzalez looking before fanning Grandal. The Toronto right-hander finished with two walks and eight strikeouts.
Pillar, who leads the team with 12 multi-hit games, nearly had another hit in the fifth inning but Joc Pederson robbed him with a nice diving catch in shallow centre field.
The sellout crowd of 46,665 gave Estrada a nice cheer after Trayce Thompson led off the sixth with a double for the first Los Angeles hit of the afternoon. Thompson moved to third on a Utley sacrifice fly but was left stranded when Gonzalez grounded out.
Pederson put the Dodgers on the board with a solo homer in the seventh inning. He belted a hanging curveball over the wall for his sixth homer of the season.
Toronto regained the lead in the bottom half of the frame. Justin Smoak hit a two-out single off Hatcher and Tulowitzki walked before Pillar smacked a single to right field.
Smoak was originally held at third base but came home with the go-ahead run when Thompson bobbled the ball.
Toronto relievers Jesse Chavez, Chad Girodo and Gavin Floyd all worked in the ninth. Smoak hit a one-out ground-rule double off Jansen but the right-hander got Tulowitzki on a lineout and Pillar on a strikeout to end it.
Notes: The game took three hours 10 minutes to play. ... It was Toronto's seventh sellout of the season. ... Players used pink bats and wore pink undershirts in honour of Mother's Day and to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research. Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ's mother, Susan, threw out the first pitch. ... The Blue Jays will kick off a six-game road trip Monday against San Francisco. Aaron Sanchez (2-1, 2.82 ERA) will start for Toronto against Jake Peavy (1-3, 9.00). ... The Dodgers return home for a nine-game homestand starting Monday against the New York Mets.
