TORONTO — Directing all the inertia of his windup toward home plate has helped José Berríos bounce back from the worst season of his career.
Berríos struck out nine and gave up just two runs on a broken-bat single in a quality start for the Blue Jays as Toronto fell to the San Diego Padres 2-0 on Wednesday. Berríos said that the only thing different from last year is that he has mastered shifting all his weight toward home when delivering the pitch.
"I think one thing I've been doing better is putting all my energy to home plate," said Berríos, who threw harder as the night wore on, with a total of seven four-seam fastballs and sinkers going above 96 m.p.h. "That's why I've been seeing my velocity going up."
Berríos had a 5.23 earned-run average last year, the highest it's been since his rookie season in 2016. He struggled to a 12-7 record with 149 strikeouts in a disappointing campaign. This season, his ERA has dropped to 3.39 with an 8-7 record and he's already up to 105 strikeouts.
"I've been doing the same, workout routine, game recovery stuff, it's all been the same," said Berríos. "Now I'm just throwing the ball a little harder."
The Blue Jays (53-43) inability to score squandered Berríos's 11th quality start of the season as he gave up just four hits and four walks over six innings. Yimi Garcia, Trevor Richards and Tim Mayza came out of Toronto's bullpen.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider said that although Berríos didn't get the run support he needed it would pan out over the course of the season.
"All you can ask is for the guys to go out and compete and give yourself a chance to win. He did that and then some tonight," said Schneider. "We keep putting guys out there so it's just a matter of cashing them in."
Manny Machado's two-run single was all San Diego (46-50) needed for its second-straight win. Machado is batting .327 over his last 14 games with a double, nine home runs and 21 RBIs.
"Manny’s on fire right now and not only that, but big hits, too," said Padres manager Bob Melvin. "All it took was one today."
Yu Darvish (7-6) struck out seven over six scoreless innings of work, allowing four hits and three walks as San Diego (46-50) earned its second-straight win. Relievers Steven Wilson, Nick Martinez and Josh Hader preserved Darvish's win. Hader earned his 23rd save of the season.
Berríos pitched scoreless ball for the first four innings of the game before the Padres scratched out a couple of runs in the fifth.
Trent Grisham was walked and then Ha-Seong Kim was hit by a pitch to put two runners on. They executed a double steal to move into scoring position so Berríos intentionally walked slugger Juan Soto with two outs to set up a forced out at every base.
But Machado hit a broken-bat single into left field to push Grisham and Kim across the plate and move Soto to third. Berríos struck out Xander Bogaerts to end the frame but San Diego had established a 2-0 lead.
Toronto outfielder George Springer got a loud ovation from the sold-out crowd of 42,948 at Rogers Centre after he made a leaping grab on a fly out off the bat of Jake Cronenworth in the sixth.
Back-to-back singles from Bo Bichette and Brandon Belt to lead off the eighth gave the Blue Jays some hope of mounting a comeback. But consecutive popouts from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Matt Chapman coupled with a Whit Merrifield strikeout ended the threat.
ROSTER MOVES — Outfielder Jordan Luplow was selected to the Blue Jays' roster hours before Wednesday night's game. Outfielder Nathan Lukes was optioned to Toronto's triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y., in a corresponding move. Right-handed sidearmer Adam Cimber was transferred to the 60-day injured list as he continues to rehab a shoulder impingement in his throwing arm.
ON DECK — Chris Bassitt (9-5) will get the start as Toronto finishes its interleague series against San Diego with an early-afternoon matinee.
Blake Snell (6-7) will take the mound for the Padres.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 19, 2023.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press