The Toronto Blue Jays (5-6) celebrated their brand new park renovations in style with a 5-2 triumph over the Seattle Mariners (4-7). SP Jose Berrios was definitely the Blue Jays MVP in Monday’s contest, hurling 101 pitches in his home debut in front of 40,069 fans in attendance. After a disappointing road trip in Tampa Bay, Houston, and New York, Toronto got their homestand off on the right foot with the 5-2 win on Monday.
Berrios Has Scoreless Outing in 6.2 Innings of Work
SP Jose Berrios had himself a game against the Seattle Mariners, going 6.2 IP of scoreless baseball while striking out 6 batters. Berrios also forced a whopping 9 ground balls while registering 13 swings-and-misses. The 29-year-old only had a 25.4 whiff% in 2023, but his whiff rate increased by 2.6% in his start from April 8th. Each of Berrios’ pitches experienced upticks in velocity, with the slurve receiving the most substantial increase in velocity at 0.8 MPH greater than his yearly average.
In the 2nd inning, Jose Berrios faced C Cal Raleigh. He started off the AB with a slurve down and in that Raleigh foul-tipped into Kirk’s mitt, starting him out with an 0-1 count. On the second pitch of the at-bat, Berrios hurled a front-door sinker that caught the inside corner of the zone, putting the starter ahead 0-2. Berrios then threw two four-seam fastballs out of the zone, evening the count at 2-2. The 5th pitch was a slurve that caught way too much of the plate, but luckily, Raleigh only fouled it off. The next 3 pitches were sinkers that resulted in two foul balls and a ball inside, making the count full. To cap off the AB, Berrios hurled a slurve down-and-in that Raleigh waved at, resulting in the Blue Jays SP winning the battle. Ths was Jose Berrios’ 1200th strikeout of his career.
Cal Raleigh’s AB in the 2nd frame demonstrates how effective Berrios’ slurve was during the contest. The slurve generated 18 swings throughout the righty’s 6.2 IP, with 9 of those being swings-and-misses, giving the pitch a whopping 50% whiff rate. The slurve was well-utilized against righties down-and-away (Mitch Garver AB in 7th frame) while also being excellent against lefties in the inside part of the plate. Overall, it was a quality performance by Toronto’s 2024 ace during the home opener.
Blue Jays Offence Led By Young Studs
The Blue Jays offence scored 5+ runs for only the 4th time so far this season, hanging exactly 5 on the Seattle Mariners on Monday night. With large contributions from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Davis Schneider, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Toronto was able to score 5 runs, with 4 coming off of SP Luis Castillo, who placed 5th in AL Cy Young voting in 2023.
The Blue Jays got the scoring started in the bottom of the second inning, starting the frame off with a Justin Turner double off the top of the left field wall. After two straight outs from Davis Schneider and Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk needed to come up with a clutch knock. On a 2-2 count, Kirk roped a painted 96 MPH sinker up-and-in from Castillo into left field to score Turner, giving Toronto the early 1-0 lead.
A mere inning later finds Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the dish with 1 out. Guerrero Jr. weakly chopped a 96 MPH sinker to third base for an infield hit. One batter later, SS Bo Bichette pounced on a sinker that caught too much of the plate from Castillo and laced it off the top of the wall in right field for a double, putting runners on second and third for Justin Turner. Turner took a 5-pitch walk, loading the bases for Davis Schneider. With 2 strikes on him, Schneider reached out for an outside slider and flared it into centre field for a 2-run single, extending the Blue Jays lead to 3-0, a comfortable lead for Jose Berrios, who was stymying the Mariners offence.
In the fourth frame, Toronto had Kevin Kiermaier on first with 2 outs. However, Kiermaier utilized his speed to steal second, forcing a high throw from catcher Cal Raleigh to allow the gold-glover to slide in safely. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped up to the dish, and on a full count, ripped a sinker down-and-away to right field for another RBI double, scoring Kiermaier to make the score 4-0.
Fast forward to the eighth inning where Davis Schneider registered his second hit of the contest through a line drive to right field. Cavan Biggio then took a hit-by-pitch via a slider down and inside that tipped the top of his cleat. C Alejandro Kirk fell on top of an outside curveball and weakly grounded into a double play, moving Schneider to third base with 2 gone. Isiah Kiner-Falefa stepped up to the plate and lined a single into right field for an 82 MPH base knock, scoring Schneider and giving the Blue Jays a much-needed insurance run, specifically given the Mariners history at Rogers Centre.
Considering the talent of Luis Castillo, 5 runs is definitely nothing to spit at. The Blue Jays showed off their extra base hit potential against Seattle, tallying 5 doubles total on the night (Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette), with all of them coming off of Castillo.
Green Must Address HR Issues
Chad Green closed out Toronto’s 5-2 win over the Seattle Mariners, but he wasn’t without his struggles. Cal Raleigh continued his reign of terror over the Toronto Blue Jays, roping his 8th home run against Toronto in his career. Green’s home run issues were a clear problem in the spring, yielding 4 dingers in 7.2 Spring Training innings. The veteran reliever also gave up 1 HR in 3.1 innings prior to his game against Seattle. Green will have to clean this aspect of his game up if he hopes to be a consistent closer until RPs Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson return.
Bassitt Looks to Win Series for Toronto on Tuesday
Overall, the Toronto Blue Jays sent the fans home happy in their first home contest of 2024. SP Jose Berrios showed why he was chosen as the ace of the staff with SP Kevin Gausman dealing with injuries, going 6.2 IP of scoreless baseball. Crucial offensive performances from Davis Schneider and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led the Blue Jays to a 5-2 victory. Toronto will play the Mariners again on Tuesday at 7:07 PM EST. The Blue Jays will trot out SP Chris Bassitt while George Kirby will take the mound for Seattle. Is Toronto’s offence finally returning to form?