José Berríos carries a no-hitter into the seventh, Blue Jays beat Orioles for the first time this season
By Evan Stack
5 months agoBoy, it was a tough night for the “José Berríos is washed! Terrible contract!” crowd.
Berríos didn’t allow a hit until the 7th inning in what was one of his best starts as a Blue Jay, and Toronto defeated Baltimore 3-1 on Wednesday night. With this win, it was their first against the Orioles this season, and a big one at that with the decreased amount of opportunities they get to play each other this season.
The Orioles did threaten to come back in the top of the 9th, but Jordan Romano stranded two runners on base to seal the win.
Blue Jays Nation’s Player of the Game: José Berríos
Clearly, this guy is awarded the game honours. Berríos didn’t allow a baserunner until the 5th inning when he walked Austin Hays. Hays was caught stealing to end the frame, so Berríos still faced the minimum after five. He barely grazed Ramon Urias in the next inning, but he carried the no-hitter into the 7th.
Unfortunately, Adley Rutschman singled to center field to end the potentially-historic night, but Jose settled back down and didn’t allow the single to cause any further harm. He gave up two more hits in the 8th inning, so John Schneider elected to pull him from the game with two outs, but those latter two innings didn’t fully reflect the night that Berríos had. His final line: 7.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K’s. Dominant from La Makina.
Whether it was the tremendous movement on the slurves or the effective changeups to the many lefties Baltimore threw at him, nothing fazed Berrios in the slightest. He even made four defensive outs himself to help out his own cause. Furthermore, Berrios is now 10-0 for his career against the Orioles.
Things worth mentioning
- Kyle Bradish, the Orioles starter for the night, nearly went toe-to-toe with Berríos. Bradish tossed seven really good innings for Baltimore. The only mistake he made was surrendering a 437 ft. solo home run to George Springer in the 6th inning. It was the second-longest home run of the season for Springer, and it would’ve required a second renovation to keep that ball in play. Blue Jays hitters previously had good numbers against Bradish, but to his credit, he limited the damage for most of his night.
- The Blue Jays added some much-needed insurance in the 8th inning, which was almost squandered due to Whit Merrifield running into a double play. Kevin Kiermaier opened the frame with an infield hit and shortly ended up on third base thanks to stealing second and then a balk from Danny Coulombe. Merrifield drove in Kiermaier with a ground-rule double, and the Blue Jays led 2-0.
- Santiago Espinal walked and then came the near-disaster. Springer grounded a ball to short, Espinal was out at second, but Merrifield broke for home. He was easily thrown out, and just like that, all the Jays had was a runner on first. Bo Bichette, however, came to the rescue doubling to deep center field scoring Springer from first.
- Tim Mayza recorded the last out in the 8th, inducing a ground ball out from Gunnar Henderson in which Bo Bichette’s throw beat him out by a step.
- Toronto will look to take the series tomorrow afternoon with YuCy Kikuchi facing Tyler Wells.
ARTICLE PRESENTED BY BETANO
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