Gregor Chisholm: José Berríos bruised but not battered as Blue Jays hand Rays first loss
from one outing to the next, dating back to last year. One start he looks great, the next he is giving up lasers all over the field.
Berríos snapped the Tampa Bay Rays’ historic 13-game winning streak by limiting them to just one run over five strong innings in a 6-3 victory at Rogers Centre. He scattered four hits against the league’s No. 1 offence while striking out six before departing with a five-run lead.“We wanted to turn the page,” Berríos said of his desire to bounce back after a pair of rough starts against Kansas City and the Los Angeles Angels. “I came here in an aggressive mode.
That’s when another break went Berríos’s way. He hung an 84-m.p.h. slurve over the heart of the plate that Diaz crushed once again. This time the Rays first baseman hit a 103.5-m.p.h. fly ball to deep left-centre that almost left the park but instead was caught at the wall by a leaping Daulton Varsho.
“He was executing,” Jays manager John Schneider said. “In the first inning, I really liked what he did against Randy to finish it off. That, combined with the stuff, is just a great building block for him ... I think that’s what we can expect. That’s the pitcher he has been for so long. I think that’s why we have so much confidence in him. He’s another start away, next time through, from probably getting on a roll.
“I’ve been working on having more of a spread between my fastball and off-speed , and I had it tonight” Berríos said. “A slower changeup with more movement. They took a lot of breaking balls early in the game, but I kept throwing it. I gave up one hit on a breaking pitch, but I’m still throwing it. Attack with my fastball down in the zone and I get good results.”
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