Blue Jays win slugfest over Reds as bullpen holds its own

CINCINNATI – An inning and a half into Tuesday night’s game, the Blue Jays appeared to have found a tidy solution to their bullpen issues: bludgeon the opposition so thoroughly that there’s no chance whatsoever of a comeback.

With Jose Berrios on the mound and an early 8-1 lead, the Blue Jays seemed to be well on their way to a relatively simple win. But Berrios faltered in his first start in 10 days, allowing five runs in the second inning and turning a game that should have been one-sided into a slugfest that saw the Blue Jays and Reds exchange runs deep into the night.

There were many stressful moments along the way, but the bullpen combined for seven innings of three-run ball, and the offence kept on slugging as the Blue Jays outlasted the Reds on the way to a 12-9 win. Notably, George Springer hit two of the team’s four home runs and the late-inning trio of Louis Varland, Seranthony Dominguez and Jeff Hoffman locked things down one day after the bullpen blew a late lead in painful fashion.

“Weird game,” said manager John Schneider. “We had to keep the pressure on. It felt like you could never have enough runs.”

With the win, the Blue Jays improve to 80-59 on the season, preserve their 2.5-game lead over the Yankees and Red Sox atop the AL East and set up the chance to win the series Wednesday behind Shane Bieber.

The Reds were at a disadvantage from the jump, as scheduled starter Nick Lodolo was scratched because of an illness, meaning reliever Scott Barlow had to step in on a bullpen day. To their credit, the Blue Jays capitalized, starting with a franchise record 23rd leadoff home run from Springer, who passed Devon White’s previous Jays record of 22.

“It’s cool,” Springer said of passing White, now a Jays special assistant. “I love him, and see him a lot in spring training. For me, once it’s all said and done I’ll have a better understanding of it. I just want to help us win.”

Springer’s 26th home run of the season represents the highest total he’s ever had in Toronto, and by wRC+, which takes into account overall offensive performance, his 161 represents a career high, including his seven seasons in Houston.

“George is unbelievable right now,” Schneider said. “He can put the team on his back a little bit, and he has a track record to do it this time of year and into the post-season.” 

The Blue Jays kept adding, with a three-run double from Alejandro Kirk in the first and a three-run home run from Bo Bichette in the second. Bichette has homered in consecutive games, and is hitting .310 with 18 home runs and an .836 OPS on the season.

Later, Daulton Varsho’s power outburst continued with his 17th long ball of the season in just 50 games.

With a lead like that, the Blue Jays could have used an extended outing from Berrios, who last pitched two weekends ago, but was given scheduled rest as a way to maximize his production down the stretch. Yet he was inefficient through the first inning, and a throwing error by Isiah Kiner-Falefa extended the second, leading to four unearned runs.

Still, Berrios wasn’t able to overcome the error by Kiner-Falefa, so six Reds had crossed the plate by the time the second inning ended, whether the runs were earned or not. At that point, Berrios was already at 66 pitches, so his outing ended early with the Blue Jays leading 8-6.

“Honestly, I was trying to do my best but I felt out of rhythm,” he said. “That’s part of the game. Some days you feel like that, and tonight was a game where I didn’t have control of my pitches.”

As Chris Bassitt said Monday, Blue Jays starters do have to find a way to go deeper into games, but once Berrios left, a long night began for the team’s struggling bullpen. First, Dillon Tate pitched a scoreless inning. Eric Lauer, who had been tentatively slated to start Wednesday before the team went to a five-man rotation, then pitched 2.1 innings while allowing two runs.

Those outings bridged the gap to the late-inning trio of Varland, Dominguez and Hoffman, each of whom was unavailable Monday following heavy usage over the weekend. All told, the bullpen combined to allow three earned runs in seven innings while striking out seven and walking no one – an impressive performance.

“They’ve got my back,” Berrios said. “I’m happy for them. It was my bad that they had to use a lot of the bullpen today. I tried, it didn’t happen and the bullpen did their job.”

What stood out most to Schneider was the walk-free night for the bullpen – an area of focus in recent meetings behind the scenes.

“That’s better,” the manager said. “We’ve been talking about it with the guys and they responded.”

To be fair, one game doesn’t erase the concerns from 24 hours ago, but Tuesday’s overall effort was far better, even considering the poor start from Berrios. Rarely does everything click at once in baseball, and the wait for consistency can be frustrating, but winning games when things go wrong is a hallmark of good teams and the Blue Jays did just that Tuesday.

As Springer put it: “That’s a good baseball game. Good teams, playing good baseball and pretty much fighting for their lives.”