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TORONTO — Adding Luis Gil to the ALDS roster so he could start Game 1 on Saturday meant taking Mark Leiter Jr. off it.

Aaron Boone indicated the Yankees gave “real consideration” to carrying 13 pitchers and 13 position players, which may have spared Leiter, before going with 12 pitchers and 14 position players.

So the reliever became the victim of the roster crunch, coming off a regular season in which he struggled to provide much consistency out of the bullpen.

“It’s hard because I feel like he’s capable, and I know he’s not afraid, and I trust him in these big situations,” Boone said before a 10-1 loss to the Blue Jays in Game 1 of the series at Rogers Centre. “Part of it is not being able to pitch him as regularly probably hurt some of that second-half numbers when he came back from injury. And part of that was because we were getting really good, consistent starting pitching, so we were getting deeper into games consistently, so it was lining up our pen in different ways.

“Obviously, we brought guys in at the deadline that shifted the pecking order a little bit. Not easy, but there’s tough calls to be made at this time of the year.”

One of those trade imports was Camilo Doval, who threw two perfect innings Saturday when it was still a close game.

Boone said Leiter took the news “OK,” adding that it was “not an easy conversation.”

This is not new territory for Leiter, who was left off the ALDS and ALCS rosters last October before being added during the ALCS as an injury replacement for Ian Hamilton.

This time around, the Yankees kept Will Warren and Paul Blackburn on the roster, while removing Leiter after he had pitched to a 4.84 ERA this season and did not appear in the wild-card series. In six appearances against the Blue Jays during the regular season, Leiter posted a 9.64 ERA, giving up five earned runs across 4 ²/₃ innings.

Blackburn made his Yankees postseason debut Saturday and gave up four runs in 1 ¹/₃ innings of mop-up duty.

Cody Bellinger (bruised heel) was feeling better and in the lineup Saturday, going 0-for-3 with a walk, though Boone cautioned there may be times when he looks uncomfortable playing through some pain.

“I think he should be good. I think he should be fast,” Boone said. “I think you’ll see him limping around, especially the [deceleration] stuff.”

Boone said Bellinger initially hurt the heel earlier in the season before aggravating the injury while scoring from second base during Game 3 of the wild-card series against the Red Sox on Thursday. He has been managing it with treatment and has not gotten any tests.

“Did some good work pregame, good tape job and everything, so I felt good,” Bellinger said.

The Blue Jays left shortstop Bo Bichette off their roster as he did not have enough time to make it back from a knee sprain. They also opted not to carry veteran right-handers Max Scherzer or Chris Bassitt, who have given the Yankees some trouble in the past. Bassitt was not built up after landing on the IL on Sept. 20 with lower back inflammation, while the Blue Jays did not like how Scherzer matched up against the lefty-heavy Yankees lineup.