Blue Jays take out Berrios despite his great pitching, a breakdown
What Happened
Jose Berrios of the Toronto Blue Jays is dialed in on the mound, executing his pitches with precision. The right-hander is mixing his fastball, curveball and changeup effectively, confusing the opposing hitters with the movement and sequencing of his pitches. Berrios is painting the corners and working both sides of the plate, racking up strikeouts as he efficiently navigates through the early innings. Despite Berrios' dominant performance, the Blue Jays ultimately decide to remove him from the game in the fourth inning, even though he appears to be cruising. Reliever Yusei Kikuchi enters and immediately runs into trouble, allowing a run to score on a fielder's choice. Another run comes home on a double play and Berrios can only watch from the dugout as the lead slips away. "I felt perfect, I was doing everything I wanted to do," Berrios says, clearly frustrated by the decision to pull him from the game. "Probably could have kept going a little bit." Berrios had been in complete command, mixing his fastball and off-speed pitches to great effect. He had used the movement and sequencing of his pitches to keep the hitters off balance, getting them to swing and miss or weakly ground out. The overlay of his fastball and changeup, followed by the curveball, was particularly devastating. "This is the change up and the slurve, that's nasty," the announcer says, marveling at Berrios' ability to execute that combination. "So watch again, this was how the fastball and the changeup back-to-back play off each other and this is the now changeup and the slurve playing off each other and that's just nuts." The Blue Jays had built an early lead, but their decision to remove Berrios from the game ultimately backfires, as the bullpen struggles to hold the advantage. Berrios can only watch helplessly as the game slips away, despite his dominant performance on the mound.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentfastball outside curveball inside curveball outside fastball back inside strikeout pumped
up this breakdown is brought to you by DraftKings Jose Barrios was dialed he was doing everything
he wanted to do he's got the pitches he wants to throw him with and he was sequencing them
really nicely in a fun way that's what I want to show you here look at this so that's the fastball
and it's got a little run to it and that's the slurve and that's how they look together the
batter's got to figure that out just by picking up the spin on the ball he was doing this a lot
crossing action one pitch goes this way the other pitch goes that way this is the change up and the
slurve that's nasty so that was the basic of what he was doing to start is just okay that one breaks
in that one breaks out below the zone ground ball one goes in one goes out using that access to throw
different pitches and then he's got a little run to it and that's how they look together
pitches using that cross action to confuse the hitters a little bit then he started throwing
other elements into play building on the sequencing all right here we go start the at bat
high fastball swinging fouled back so you're adjusted to 95 miles per hour up in the zone
off of that he throws change up low devastating combination look at the overlay there oh boy
now off of the change up he throws the slurve that's just gross that's just gross so watch
again this was how the fastball and the change up back-to-back play off each other and this is
the now change up and the slur playing off each other and that's just nuts here's some different
sequencing he did fastball you take it looking a lot of times if a guy took a pitch looking then
he threw that same pitch again and said I bet you think you can hit it now because you've seen it
you can't so another fastball in the zone doesn't hit it fouls it back you've seen two fastballs
now I'll change it up and go to the slurve gets the strikeout I liked that sequencing a lot bam
those are the two pitches and then I thought he was gonna do that again here to the lefty again
he goes fastball he took it looking then gets him to swing at it does he drop down now for the
slider or mixing the change no this at bat he just stayed with the fastball but stayed climbing the
ladder takes but swings what I mean by climbing the ladder okay well that one's mid high higher
making him want the fastball making it harder and harder for him to hit the fastball that was
pretty cool too this pitch get me over curve ball to start strike looking so now he's the batter's
thinking uh or maybe barrios is thinking oh I bet you think you can hit that now well I'm gonna
throw it a little more off the plate fouls it back he loves it let's put it even more off the plate
swing and a miss nasty but the Blue Jays decided they were gonna take him out because it was a pre
in the fourth inning they should have probably been like wow he's pitching great let's leave him
in let him ride this out instead like they stick to the plan Kikuchi gets a ground ball they can't
turn it into an out nice play almost then walks the next batter to load the bases and then he's
going to get another ground ball but they're playing the infield in a weird spot I would
have played deep to get the two ball so that leads to a run and then another ground ball this one
they turn for a double play but in the process of that a run scores and Barrios just had to look
on in the dugout thinking man I felt perfect I was doing everything I wanted to do probably
probably could have kept going a little bit this breakdown was brought to you by DraftKings thank
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