Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Jose Berrios will look to continue his dominance of the Baltimore Orioles when the teams meet in the second game of a three-game series on Wednesday night in Baltimore.
The Blue Jays will try to bounce back from an 11-6 loss on Tuesday night. Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson homered in his third straight game, this time hitting a grand slam that broke the contest open in the third inning.
Berrios (6-4, 3.61 ERA) is 9-0 with a 2.92 ERA and his only career shutout in 12 career starts against the Orioles. He has 67 strikeouts and just 16 walks in 77 innings vs. them.
The right-hander is rolling overall as well, going 3-0 with a 1.46 ERA in his past four starts. During that run, Berrios has struck out 18, walked 12 and held opponents to a .202 batting average. In his past 11 starts, he is 6-2 with a 2.53 ERA.
Last time out, Berrios gave up two runs on four hits over six innings in a win against the Houston Astros on Thursday.
“I think execution, competence, really being convicted with a plan,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said of Berrios’ success. “I think he’s been awesome. I think when you’re going good and you have that string of quality starts, you feel a bit more free and a bit more comfortable with what you’re doing.”
Baltimore will counter Wednesday with right-hander Kyle Bradish (2-2, 4.25 ERA), who will make his 12th start of the season.
Bradish gave up three runs on six hits in five innings during his latest start, a no-decision against the host Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday. He struck out a season-high 10 and walked one in a game the Orioles won 6-3. In his prior start, he allowed three runs on seven hits over four innings in a road loss to the San Francisco Giants.
“I’ve felt like I’ve thrown the ball well for the past month, but just call it a bounce-back — I was able to strike out some more guys,” Bradish said. “Still got to work on putting guys away in four pitches, but yeah, big confidence boost right there.”
Bradish is 0-2 with a 6.95 ERA in five career starts vs. Toronto, with all of those coming last year.
Henderson, the reigning American League Player of the Week, had three hits on Tuesday. He is 13-for-24 (.542) with four homers, 10 RBIs and six runs over his past six games.
“Really swinging the bat with a purpose, and he’s always had really good strike-zone awareness,” Baltimore manager Brandon Hyde said. “He was in between a lot the first month or so, and he’s being more aggressive early in the count and doing damage on strikes, so it’s been fun to watch him progress.
Adam Frazier, Ryan O’Hearn and Aaron Hicks also homered in the series opener for the Orioles, who pounded out a season-high 17 hits in winning their fifth straight game.
Before the game, the Orioles placed first baseman Ryan Mountcastle on the 10-day injured list retroactive to Saturday due to vertigo.
The Blue Jays, who have lost three of their past four, got three hits apiece from Daulton Varsho and Alejandro Kirk, while Cavan Biggio homered for the second straight game. Toronto scored four runs in the final two innings and ended the game with the bases loaded as it attempted to erase what once was a nine-run deficit.
“You just want those at-bats a little earlier in the game,” Schneider said. “Tonight wasn’t our night.”
–Field Level Media
