TORONTO — The Blue Jays have a winning record against every division in Major League Baseball this season. Except their own.
Jarren Duran had a two-run homer and Masataka Yoshida a solo shot in the sixth inning as the Boston Red Sox downed Toronto 5-0 on Friday. The Blue Jays are now 7-18 against their American League East rivals, including dropping all five games to Boston this year.
"I can't explain that," said Toronto starting pitcher José Berríos. "I don't think like 'oh we are playing against a division team.' I get in a mindset like we're going to play a Major League Baseball game tonight and we have to give 100 per cent.
"I do my best to help us win. I don't know why we don't play so well against the American League East division. That's baseball."
Berríos (8-6) gave up four runs on five hits despite striking out eight and issuing no walks over six innings for the Blue Jays (45-38). He thought he gave up the homers to Duran and Yoshida because he became predictable.
"Like I said, baseball is baseball. Nothing is easy," said Berríos. "We battled with their four big hitters, but by the sixth inning it was the third time around so I got predictable and we used a lot of change-ups and fastballs away.
"We stayed with the same plan so they sat in on it. That's on me."
Relievers Trent Thornton and Mitch White came on after Berríos, giving up a run over three innings.
Justin Turner's home run opened the scoring as Boston (41-42) snapped a five-game losing skid. He drove in another run with a sacrifice fly later in the game.
James Paxton (4-1) of Ladner, B.C., was superb for the Red Sox, striking out seven over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. He only gave up three hits before Chris Martin and Kaleb Ort came out of the bullpen.
"There comes a point in time where you've got to look at who you're playing and say 'O.K., these games are a tick more important,'" said Toronto manager John Schneider. "It's not putting pressure on the guys, it's not trying harder or anything like that.
"But there comes a point in time, and we're probably there, where it's really important to win this series."
Blue Jays slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., brought the 37,218 spectators at Rogers Centre to their feet in the first inning when he sent a flyball to deep centre field. Duran caught the ball just over the outfield wall, flexing and shouting after making the run-saving grab.
Turner led off the fifth with a home run. Turner's 12th of the season travelled 379 feet into the Blue Jays' bullpen.
Both Berríos and Paxton had been humming along until Turner's home run, with the first four innings of the game taking less than an hour.
Berríos continued to struggle in the sixth, giving up three runs in quick succession.
Connor Wong led off the inning with a double and then Duran scored him with a towering home run to centre field. He smashed an 85.4 m.p.h. change-up from Berríos 417 feet.
Two batters later, Yoshida hit his ninth homer of the season to make it 4-0 for Boston. That blast also came off of a change-up, this time going 444 feet to deep right field.
Turner tacked on another run in the eighth with a sacrifice fly scoring Alex Verdugo for a 5-0 lead.
POP PROGRESS — Relief pitcher Zach Pop of Brampton, Ont., threw an inning with Toronto's triple-A affiliate in Buffalo, N.Y., on Thursday and is scheduled to throw again on Saturday as he recovers from a right hamstring strain.
RYU AND GREEN RECOVERY — Pitchers Hyun-Jin Ryu and Chad Green, who are both recovering from Tommy John surgery, continue to make progress at the Blue Jays' training facility in Dunedin, Fla. Ryu threw three innings on Wednesday and will pitch in a game on July 4 either in single A or the Florida Complex League. Green will pitch one inning on Saturday.
ON DECK — Yusei Kikuchi (7-2) gets the start as Toronto continues its three-game series with the Red Sox.
Boston will send Kutter Crawford (2-4) to the mound for the matinee.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2023.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
