Berríos continues to rediscover himself with no-hit bid

BALTIMORE -- The Blue Jays have been asking their starting rotation to walk a tightrope. Lately, it’s been made of dental floss.

José Berríos just keeps crossing the canyon, though, vaulting to safety with the Blue Jays on his back. Wednesday’s 3-1 win over the Orioles was another remarkable performance from Berríos, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning as he continues to rediscover the best version of himself.

Now the owner of a 3.28 ERA, nearly a full two runs below the 5.23 ERA that had alarm bells wailing a year ago, Berríos is back. In Wednesday’s win, he cut through Baltimore’s lineup with a sizzling confidence, needing just 33 pitches to get through the first four innings in what felt like an instant. This might be the best we’ve seen Berríos in a Blue Jays uniform.

“It’s pretty damn close if it’s not,” said manager John Schneider. “He’s as consistent as you could hope for. He basically had everything working today against a really good lineup. He’s really been the guy that gets overlooked with Chris [Bassitt] and Kevin [Gausman], but he was phenomenal tonight.”

That sixth inning is typically when eyebrows start to arch over a zero in the hits column. Schneider’s mind started to hum with how he’d manage the bullpen down the stretch while Berríos, well aware he hadn’t allowed a hit, just tried to keep the pedal down. Some of his Blue Jays teammates were just catching on, though. Besides, those innings flew by.

“I didn’t know until the sixth inning,” George Springer said with a smile. “I just think that when a guy is on a roll, you just let him go. You attempt to stay out of his way, whether it’s one hit, no hits or five hits. He’s very engaged. He talks to everybody. It’s hard to stay away from him.”

Dave Stieb lives another day as the only Blue Jays pitcher to throw a no-hitter, and that’s just fine. A win is a win.

Berríos is no longer chasing himself. For so much of the 2022 season, it looked like he was just an inch away from figuring it all out again, which can be a special type of frustrating for a pitcher of his caliber. The issues weren’t glaring, but his numbers were.

In his first outing of 2023, Berríos got hit all over Kansas City by the Royals and the storm clouds formed once again. Since then, though, he’s been exactly who the Blue Jays need and exactly who they handed a seven-year, $131 million contract to in '21.

“I’m happy. I’m grateful,” Berríos said. “This lets me do what I love to do, which is play baseball. I’ve been doing pretty well so far. I want to keep locking in. It’s been a little bit hard, but that’s why the great players are great, because they stay consistent and locked in all year long.”

The words feel so genuine coming from Berríos, who has worn his heart on his sleeve in his time with the Blue Jays. In 2022, that heart was on both sleeves and across the chest of his shirt.

Now, Berríos is pitching with freedom. If a fan in the top row of Camden Yards can see his confidence, the hitter surely has a fine view of it, too, and Berríos’ confidence in his foundation is finally allowing him to stay one step ahead of his opponent instead of battling his own performance.

"He just had a really good rhythm going, it was pretty obvious,” said Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. “He had everything going. A ton of strikes. He’s not somebody you really want to get to two strikes with anyways, and he was locating extremely well and made it tough on us."

The value of Berríos’ timing can’t be overstated, either.

Yusei Kikuchi, who closes the series Thursday, has topped out at five innings in his last six starts. Some have been good, but all have demanded a long night from the bullpen, especially in a stretch where the Blue Jays’ offense isn’t exactly handing Schneider and pitching coach Pete Walker the odd game where they can throw in a long reliever and coast to a win.

Until those days come, the Blue Jays will continue to ask their starters for more than just quality starts. It’s too much to ask, frankly, and that can’t last much longer, but Berríos is rising to these occasions with a remarkable consistency that is, once again, his identity.