Bullpen steps up again after Berríos sprung early

MILWAUKEE — A day after Yusei Kikuchi couldn’t get out of the third inning, the Blue Jays’ bullpen had to combine for another yeoman’s effort to cover the final 5 1/3 innings of a 10-3 loss to the Brewers on Sunday at American Family Field.

The laborious performance was necessary this time after right-hander José Berríos was tagged for eight runs — including a pair of two-run home runs by former Blue Jay Rowdy Tellez — over his first two innings of work.

Berríos’ struggles Sunday were even more unfortunate because they wiped out an early lead provided by Alejandro Kirk’s 10th home run of the season, a three-run blast off Chi Chi González in the first inning.

After González worked himself out of the inning, Berríos gave up a leadoff walk to Christian Yelich and after getting Willy Adames to line out to first, left a fastball up to Tellez, who crushed it to center. Milwaukee tied the game later in the inning on Omar Narváez’s RBI double, then broke things open in the second when Berríos gave up hits to five of his first six batters, including Tellez, who hit his second home run of the game.

“I wasn’t able to locate my pitches,” Berríos said. “I was throwing my fastball right down the middle and they did damage with it.”

Despite the frustrating start, manager Charlie Montoyo had no choice but to send Berríos back out for the third.

“We have to cover nine innings,” Montoyo said. “That’s why we had to leave him in there. There’s just no way we can do that every day.”

Especially with the schedule facing the Blue Jays, who are three games into a stretch of 18 in 17 days and return to Toronto for seven straight against AL East heavyweights Boston and Tampa Bay.

“It’s tough,” Montoyo said. “It’s taxing on the bullpen. At the end of the day, it’s all about pitching. For us to make a run and to keep playing good, we need good [starting] pitching and that hasn’t happened the last couple of days.”

If there’s a silver lining, it’s the way Toronto’s relievers have handled the increased workload.

During the three games in Milwaukee, the Blue Jays bullpen allowed four runs — two Friday in a 9-4 victory and two more Sunday — while combining for 17 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings of work.

Right-hander Max Castillo was responsible for a large chunk of that production; the rookie struck out seven over four scoreless frames Friday but the Blue Jays also benefited from multiple appearances by Jeremy Beasley and Matt Gage during the weekend series.

“Give credit to those guys who came in and did their job,” Montoyo said. “It’s tough to do that in back-to-back days.”

Berríos is already turning his attention to his next start and Montoyo is confident that the veteran right-hander will figure things out.

“I’m sure he’s going to bounce back,” Montoyo said. “He’s a good big league pitcher, he’s got a good track record, so there’s always a chance he’s going to do better.”