Berríos (13 K’s) spins much-needed gem

TORONTO — José Berríos has shown a half-dozen flashes of his old self this season, but something was different Tuesday night.

Coming off a pair of strong outings to open July, Berríos cut through the Phillies’ order like a buzz saw, tying his career high with 13 strikeouts in a 4-3 win at Rogers Centre. For a pitcher in need of a statement win and a Blue Jays team in need of any win at all, this was the ultimate exhale.

Berríos’ six innings of three-run ball won’t do much to change his ERA, which still sits at an uncharacteristic 5.38, but he was finally missing bats. He generated 20 swings and misses, his highest total this season and the second most in his career, getting it done with all four pitches. This has been — and will be — the biggest factor in Berríos’ success.

“I’ve been battling all year long, but there’s one thing I’ve had on my mind,” Berríos said. “Keep fighting. Keep working. That’s myself, but also my teammates. We know it’s a long road, but we have the group and the talent. At the end of the year, we can be in a good position. That’s why I keep working on myself.”

When Berríos has struggled this season, and you don’t need to stretch to find examples, it’s been a controlled form of failure. He’s issued more than two walks in just one of his 18 starts and he has a walk rate lower than his career average. Berríos hadn’t lost the strike zone by any means, he’d just found too much of the danger zones — leading to the AL-high 19 home runs he’s allowed.

Pitchers who live in the strike zone will always need to miss bats or produce weak contact, and in the modern game, missing bats is the simpler, more controllable answer to all of this. Berríos has never been confused for Jacob deGrom, but at his best, he typically averages more than a strikeout per inning. This part won’t surprise you, but that hasn’t happened much in 2022.

Toronto manager Charlie Montoyo raved about his starter following the win. When asked about the meaning of this win for the Blue Jays, he went back for more.

“Let me keep talking about Berríos,” Montoyo said, grinning. “That’s his second quality start [in a row]. If he gets going, that does a lot for us as a team, because now you have a chance to win every time he takes the mound. It’s great to see the way he pitched in Oakland and the way he pitched today. If he gets going? That’s really good for this team.”

It’s difficult to overstate the magnitude of this win for the Blue Jays, even though it’s just one game in July. Coming off a 1-6 road trip and a 1-9 skid that brought on plenty of outside noise, and rightfully so, Toronto was entering freefall territory. An AL Wild Card race that once looked like it belonged to the Blue Jays now features the Mariners, Guardians, Orioles, White Sox and Rangers in a dense battle for the final spot.

Toronto has been looking for a hot streak to stick, but at this point, it’ll be happy to right the ship and get to the break comfortably. That will be a welcome breather for many, and with the Aug. 2 Trade Deadline barreling closer, changes are expected, especially when it comes to the Blue Jays’ bullpen and rotation depth.

Streaks start with one, though, and this is another crack at the long run the club has been searching for.

“This win means a lot for us,” Berríos said. “We had a tough road trip, but we got that off-day and tried to turn that page. We came in today with a win like tonight. We want to keep that rolling through this homestand — the last homestand before the All-Star break.”

Berríos has spent so much of the season trying to catch up, watching as Kevin Gausman and Alek Manoah have carried this rotation while pitching like two of the American League’s best. There’s a reason the Blue Jays handed Berríos a seven-year, $131 million extension, though, and nights like this are exactly why.

With Gausman battling back from a right ankle injury and Toronto’s depth thinned by the loss of Hyun Jin Ryu and the injury to Yusei Kikuchi, the Blue Jays need Berríos to continue this run by being exactly who he was for five seasons, which is one of the most consistent pitchers in the sport.