Spencer Arrighetti had a rough day against the Royals, and the heat was a big part of it.

The line was ugly across the board. Six hits, six earned runs, and three walks over just 4.2 innings, with three strikeouts to show for it.

"That was the hottest field I've ever felt during a game," Arrighetti said afterward.

That's a specific, physical complaint, not just an excuse thrown out after a bad outing.

"It was tough to keep the hand dry. The spin wasn't coming out the way I wanted to," he added.

For a pitcher who relies on spin to generate movement, that detail matters. Sweaty fingers changing grip consistency can throw off command in ways that show up immediately in results.

"A lot of the execution was really, really subpar," Arrighetti admitted.

Why this outing adds to a rough stretch of starts

Six earned runs in under five innings is the kind of line that's hard to explain away entirely with weather, even if conditions genuinely played a role.

Arrighetti has struggled to find consistency since arriving with Toronto at the deadline, and today's outing continues that trend rather than reversing it.

For a Blue Jays rotation already thin after losing Jameson Taillon back to the IL, another shaky start from Arrighetti puts extra strain on the bullpen.

Heat and humidity are real variables in September baseball, and plenty of pitchers around the league have dealt with similar grip issues in extreme conditions.

But Toronto needs more from this rotation spot regardless of the explanation, especially with the Blue Jays fighting for a wild-card position down the stretch.

Whether today was truly a weather-driven outlier or part of a larger pattern in his command is something the next few starts will need to answer.

For now, Arrighetti's honesty about the conditions doesn't erase the line, but it does offer some context for a start that got away from him fast.