Berríos, pitching staff face rocky night vs. D-backs
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PHOENIX -- The force was decidedly not with the Blue Jays’ pitching staff on Saturday.
José Berríos allowed five runs and the bullpen allowed seven more as Toronto fell 12-1 to the Diamondbacks on Star Wars Night at Chase Field. The game marked the Blue Jays’ second consecutive loss. On Sunday afternoon, they close out the first half of their season with the third and final game of the series.
The 30-year-old Berríos has allowed 14 earned runs over his last three starts and threw 55 of his 90 pitches for strikes, issuing four walks without striking out a single batter.
“He didn’t have his feel for his breaking ball at all,” manager John Schneider said. “Against that lineup, a lot of lefties and good hitters, it’s tough to do that with two pitches. That was an uphill battle for him all night.”
The trend of allowing runs is relatively new for Berríos. He allowed more than three earned runs just once over his first 13 starts, from March 28 - June 10, but since has held opponents under four runs only one time, while his ERA has risen from 2.93 to 4.01.
Berríos expressed frustration following the game on Saturday.
“I know I haven’t been pitching well lately,” he said. “I’m a competitor, a winning guy, and I also want to be a great teammate and do my best to help my team win ballgames. Tonight, I wasn’t able to do that, so that’s why I feel frustrated.”
Bowden Francis pitched two scoreless innings following Berríos’ departure, but Zach Pop allowed three runs in the seventh, while Nate Pearson allowed four more in the eighth.
There may be some help on the way, as reliever Yimi García was spotted in Toronto’s dugout during the game. Schneider said there’s an outside chance he could be activated before Sunday’s matinee. However, the team doesn’t want to make rash decisions with the All-Star break just one game away.
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“We have to see how he comes in tomorrow, how he’s feeling and go from there,” Schneider said. “It was nice to see him, though. It put a little smile on my face.”
Alejandro Kirk was a bright spot for Toronto on Saturday, as he continued his recent resurgence by finishing 1-for-2 with an RBI. The 25-year-old catcher has recorded a hit in six consecutive games, notching six RBIs over that same span, helping his batting average climb from .197 to .234.
He’s hitting .370 with a .838 OPS in July.
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“He’s hitting the ball hard, and I think that’s what he’s capable of,” Schneider said. “He’s had some big at-bats, some big RBIs and he’s controlling the zone a little bit better.
“It’s the Kirky that we’ve known for a while, and it’s nice to have him back swinging it.”
The upcoming All-Star break is perfect timing for the Blue Jays, considering Saturday marked their eighth consecutive road game with stops in Seattle, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Toronto is 4-4 on the trip, with one game remaining against the D-backs.
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For his part, Berríos said he will use the time away to refocus on what made him successful early in the year, which could prove to be extremely valuable as the second half ramps up next week.
“I’ve been in this situation before, and I’ve had the chance to bounce back,” Berríos said. “Now I’ll take a break, use the All-Star break to see what I’ve been doing wrong, make those adjustments and try to get back to those areas where I was at the beginning of the season.”