Blue Jays rebound from shutout loss with 15-run, 23-hit outburst

MINNEAPOLIS -- As Blue Jays manager John Schneider arrived to meet the media on Saturday night, he got existential for just a moment.

“Ah, baseball,” he said. “What a game. 24 hours …”

Indeed, 24 hours after the Blue Jays were shut out by the Twins, they pounded out a season-high 23 hits and set a record for their largest shutout victory in franchise history with a 15-0 rout at Target Field.

José Berríos (14-9) pitched six scoreless innings, but there wasn’t a lot of stress involved considering he had a 7-0 lead before he threw a pitch.

Daulton Varsho, Spencer Horwitz, Addison Barger and Will Wagner all homered for the Blue Jays, who scored seven runs in the first inning on their way to setting a new season high in runs. Wagner went on to record a five-hit night, becoming the first Blue Jays rookie to do so, while raising his average to .357 over his first 56 big league at-bats.

The difference between Friday and Saturday night’s games could not have been more stark.

“No one wants to put up zero runs, especially because we were in that ballgame,” Horwitz said. “[Kevin Gausman] threw unbelievable. To not put up any runs for him, everybody was a little disappointed in that. To explode like we did today, it was definitely a rewarding feeling.”

Twins starter Zebby Matthews made just his fourth Major League start, and while he gave up five earned runs across his first three, the Blue Jays tagged him for nine runs -- all earned -- in just two innings on Saturday.

“It started pregame,” Schneider said. “Matthews [has] good, good stuff. I thought we kind of took away the top of the zone from him from the get-go, from [Varsho] to Spence. It just snowballed in the first inning, but really good plan put together by the hitting guys, and then the guys going out and executing it. You don't see that kind of seven runs, it happened pretty quick. They stuck to it and it was an awesome start.”

The Blue Jays sent 11 men to the plate in the first; every starter except George Springer had a hit by the second inning, and every starter -- including Springer -- had scored at least one run by the third inning.

It can be tough for professional athletes to maintain their intensity with such a big early lead; Schneider said the roster’s youth made it easier for them to stay locked in, and Horwitz agreed.

“I don’t think it’s that hard. I think it kind of makes you hungrier,” Horwitz said. “I felt like towards the end of the game, everybody was running to the bat rack to try and get in there. When you get that energy and the offense rolling, it’s contagious, and I think we saw that tonight.”

Twins utilityman Kyle Farmer came on to pitch the eighth and ninth innings, when the Blue Jays tacked on three more runs headlined by an RBI triple by Nathan Lukes, who had himself a four-hit night in just his second game of the season.

Berríos, meanwhile, was in complete command. The only hit he gave up through the first five innings was an infield single by Edouard Julien with two outs in the second. He cruised through six scoreless innings on just 63 pitches.

Berríos was the first to acknowledge that the big cushion provided by the offense helped his confidence on the mound.

“Yeah, more confident,” he said. “We have the liberty to throw the ball more over the plate and don’t try to be too picky. They were swinging really quick, first two pitches, and that’s good. We are working easier and we threw a really great six innings.”