Thursday&#8217;s opening-day loss at the Rogers Centre came down to power &#8212; a lack thereof for the Toronto Blue Jays, who sent just one of their four hits over the fence for a home run, while the Baltimore Orioles slugged their way to victory, clubbing six round-trippers on a whopping 14 hits. 
It was an offensive beatdown from the very beginning. The O&#8217;s had at least one baserunner cross home plate in each of the first four innings before the Blue Jays had a chance to answer with a few runs of their own, albeit their only of the contest.
When the dust mercifully settled, the sell-out home crowd was left with disappointing emotions of a 12-2 defeat, with half of those runs surrendered by right-handed starter José Berríos, who was making his third career Opening Day start for Toronto. And sadly, it played out similarly to his first two.
The first inning has been an issue for Berríos on Opening Day, at least during his Blue Jays tenure, as he entered this year&#8217;s start having allowed a home run in the opening frame in each of his previous two outings in 2022 and &#8217;24 &#8212; a streak that continued Thursday after Adley Rutschman deposited a middle-middle changeup deep beyond the right-field wall for his first of two bombs on the afternoon.
That solo shot, unfortunately, was only the beginning for Toronto&#8217;s starter, who was tagged for another two home runs before he departed after the fifth inning, marking the end of a miserable day that saw him miss over the heart of the plate a few too many times &#8212; and Baltimore&#8217;s offence made him pay for those mistakes.
<blockquote>&#8220;Today I wasn&#8217;t executing my pitches. I tried, but I didn&#8217;t,&#8221; <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-jose-berrios-struggles-with-long-ball-on-opening-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Berríos told reporters</a> of Thursday&#8217;s poor results, including Sportsnet. &#8220;They had a good day in the box. So, like the leader I am, I failed today.&#8221;</blockquote>
Keeping balls in the yard was the Blue Jays&#8217; downfall in Game 1 of 162 on Thursday. But for Berríos, this wasn&#8217;t a one-off. His struggles with the long ball began long before his first start of the 2025 campaign. In fact, after allowing a trio of home runs a day ago, he&#8217;s now allowed the most of any major league pitcher since &#8217;22, with 88.
Last season, the 30-year-old finished tied with two other pitchers &#8212; New York&#8217;s Carlos Rodón and Los Angeles&#8217; Griffin Canning &#8212; for the second-most home runs surrendered (31) in the majors, trailing only Boston&#8217;s Kutter Crawford (34).
Part of the problem against the Orioles was that Berríos&#8217; mistakes largely came when he was behind in counts, with two of the three home runs he allowed occurring when his opponent had count leverage. But it&#8217;s not like he or the bullpen received much help on the other side of the ball, either, after Toronto&#8217;s offence was out-homered six-to-one.
<blockquote>“It was two three-run homers on two outs, that’s tough to come back from,” manager John Schneider said post-game, as relayed by <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-struggle-on-both-sides-of-the-ball-on-opening-day-against-a-slugging-orioles-squad-they-didnt-miss-mistakes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Jays Nation&#8217;s Tyson Shushkewich</a>. “They didn’t miss mistakes, and the final score is the final score… glad tomorrow is not Opening Day.”</blockquote>
It may have only been the first game of the season. However, being outscored by 10 runs is a harsh reminder of the difficult journey ahead for this club. Of their next 34 games, 31 will come against teams expected to compete for a playoff spot in &#8217;25 &#8212; with over half of those versus AL East opponents.
For the Blue Jays to get where they need to be this season, they&#8217;re counting on Berríos to return to the All-Star-calibre hurler he was two seasons ago. What they can&#8217;t afford is a repeat of last year, where he posted a respectable 3.60 ERA in 32 starts, covering up his concerning xERA (4.74), FIP (4.72), strikeout rate (19.5-per-cent) and fWAR (1.0).

Thursday's opening-day loss at the Rogers Centre came down to power -- a lack thereof for the Toronto Blue Jays, who sent just one of their four hits over the fence for a home run, while the Baltimore Orioles slugged their way to victory, clubbing six round-trippers on a whopping 14 hits. 

It was an offensive beatdown from the very beginning. The O's had at least one baserunner cross home plate in each of the first four innings before the Blue Jays had a chance to answer with a few runs of their own, albeit their only of the contest.

When the dust mercifully settled, the sell-out home crowd was left with disappointing emotions of a 12-2 defeat, with half of those runs surrendered by right-handed starter José Berríos, who was making his third career Opening Day start for Toronto. And sadly, it played out similarly to his first two.

The first inning has been an issue for Berríos on Opening Day, at least during his Blue Jays tenure, as he entered this year's start having allowed a home run in the opening frame in each of his previous two outings in 2022 and '24 -- a streak that continued Thursday after Adley Rutschman deposited a middle-middle changeup deep beyond the right-field wall for his first of two bombs on the afternoon.

That solo shot, unfortunately, was only the beginning for Toronto's starter, who was tagged for another two home runs before he departed after the fifth inning, marking the end of a miserable day that saw him miss over the heart of the plate a few too many times -- and Baltimore's offence made him pay for those mistakes.
<blockquote>"Today I wasn't executing my pitches. I tried, but I didn't," <a href="https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/blue-jays-jose-berrios-struggles-with-long-ball-on-opening-day/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Berríos told reporters</a> of Thursday's poor results, including Sportsnet. "They had a good day in the box. So, like the leader I am, I failed today."</blockquote>
Keeping balls in the yard was the Blue Jays' downfall in Game 1 of 162 on Thursday. But for Berríos, this wasn't a one-off. His struggles with the long ball began long before his first start of the 2025 campaign. In fact, after allowing a trio of home runs a day ago, he's now allowed the most of any major league pitcher since '22, with 88.

Last season, the 30-year-old finished tied with two other pitchers -- New York's Carlos Rodón and Los Angeles' Griffin Canning -- for the second-most home runs surrendered (31) in the majors, trailing only Boston's Kutter Crawford (34).

Part of the problem against the Orioles was that Berríos' mistakes largely came when he was behind in counts, with two of the three home runs he allowed occurring when his opponent had count leverage. But it's not like he or the bullpen received much help on the other side of the ball, either, after Toronto's offence was out-homered six-to-one.
<blockquote>“It was two three-run homers on two outs, that’s tough to come back from,” manager John Schneider said post-game, as relayed by <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/blue-jays-struggle-on-both-sides-of-the-ball-on-opening-day-against-a-slugging-orioles-squad-they-didnt-miss-mistakes" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blue Jays Nation's Tyson Shushkewich</a>. “They didn’t miss mistakes, and the final score is the final score… glad tomorrow is not Opening Day.”</blockquote>
It may have only been the first game of the season. However, being outscored by 10 runs is a harsh reminder of the difficult journey ahead for this club. Of their next 34 games, 31 will come against teams expected to compete for a playoff spot in '25 -- with over half of those versus AL East opponents.

For the Blue Jays to get where they need to be this season, they're counting on Berríos to return to the All-Star-calibre hurler he was two seasons ago. What they can't afford is a repeat of last year, where he posted a respectable 3.60 ERA in 32 starts, covering up his concerning xERA (4.74), FIP (4.72), strikeout rate (19.5-per-cent) and fWAR (1.0).

Home runs continue to prove troublesome for José Berríos

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