Berríos (9 K's) at his best against Halos

ANAHEIM -- José Berríos had the Blue Jays in position to win.

He pitched into the seventh inning, the first five of which were scoreless. It was a pitchers’ duel with former teammate Yusei Kikuchi on the other side for most of the game. Berríos matched him pitch-for-pitch every step of the way until the Blue Jays’ bats broke through with three runs in the top of the seventh.

Andrés Giménez and Jonatan Clase both legged out bunt singles, advancing runners in the process. That set the table for an RBI single from Myles Straw and a two-run single from Bo Bichette to give the Blue Jays a three-run lead in the top of the seventh before they ultimately dropped a 5-4 decision against the Angels in walk-off fashion at Angel Stadium.

“I’ve been throwing better quality pitches,” Berríos said. “My pitches have been moving better, as well. My spin, my changeup, my two-seam. I just try to keep building on that and keep working.”

Berríos had everything working especially well early on. The first six of his season-high nine strikeouts came consecutively throughout the first three innings. His slurve looked borderline unhittable for most of the night as it accounted for 12 out of his 18 total swings and misses. He was throwing it glove-side. He was throwing it out in front and low at the bottom of the zone.

It was a pitch that just kept working for him even as Angels hitters were adjusting throughout the game. It wasn’t perfect, as he also walked five batters and hung a couple of breaking balls for solo home runs from Angels batters Yoán Moncada and Kyren Paris.

“I thought [his] breaking ball was really good,” manager John Schneider said about Berríos. “... Against that lineup with a lot of right handers, his breaking ball was really good. Ton of swing and miss, lot of strikeouts. … One of his better outings for sure.”

Closer Jeff Hoffman, who has been a bright spot for most of the season, had his second rough outing in a row, blowing a two-run lead in the ninth inning. The Angels loaded the bases with their first three batters in the frame, setting up a walk-off double by Jorge Soler.

“It didn’t happen tonight, but that’s kind of been the same script for a lot of games this year. It’ll turn,” Schneider said. “This is a long season. As frustrating as it is right now, we’ve been in position to win a lot of games.”

Berríos himself is already turning the page. He knows how early in the calendar it still is.

“We obviously don’t want to be in this position, losing games like that,” Berríos said. “But that’s baseball. That’s why we love it; that’s why we have passion for this game. Tomorrow is another opportunity.”