TORONTO — On the final day before sending nearly 20 percent of its roster to Los Angeles for the All-Star game, the Toronto Blue Jays needed vital contributions from some of those players to earn a much-needed win Sunday.
Star catcher Alejandro Kirk hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning and newly minted star Jordan Romano had the save as the Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals 4-2 in front of 36,681 at Rogers Center.
The win allowed the Blue Jays to close out the first half at 50-43, an improvement over last season’s 45-42 record at that point. While things haven’t looked so smooth over the past four months, 50 is indeed a nice, strong number.
With Sunday’s win, the Blue Jays took three of four from the Royals, though it’s hard to read too much into it since it was the last Kansas City club to be without a whopping 10 players — including outfielders Andrew Benintendi, Michael A .Taylor and Kyle Isbell — who do not meet Canadian vaccination requirements for COVID-19. This resulted in a roster where several players made their major league debuts during the streak.
However, the Blue Jays did what they had to do and improved to 4-1 under interim manager John Schneider.
Blue Jays starter Jose Berrios continued his strong July with a stellar performance. Royals second baseman Nicky Lopez led off the game with a single to center field, then advanced and scored on back-to-back soft contact balls from Vinny Pasquantino and Edward Olivares to put the Royals up 1-0.
However, Berrios recovered from this by using his curveball to get back-to-back strikes. He allowed a home run to first baseman Nick Pratto in the second inning to put the Royals up 2-0, but settled in nicely from that point on, facing the minimum over the next four innings.
He topped out at 95.9 mph and relied on a curveball that looked downright lethal at times, accounting for six of the seven strikeouts he generated. In all, Berrios allowed one walk and two runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings and 90 pitches.
It’s a nice sight for the Blue Jays to see the right-hander return to form this month. After his worst start of the season — against Milwaukee on June 26, when he allowed eight runs in 2.2 innings — he’s been solid. Including Sunday, over his last four starts, he has allowed eight earned runs in 23.1 innings (3.09 ERA).
While he hasn’t been dominant this year, he’s at least closer to looking like the stability pitcher the Blue Jays hoped they’d get when they traded him last July and signed him to a seven-year, $131 million contract in December. He was one of only four pitchers to post a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the past five seasons (minimum 10 starts each season), joining the elite company of Jacob de Grom, Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer.
Meanwhile, Berrios has been compared to Royals starter Chris Bubich. The left-hander kept the Blue Jays offense idle and off balance for most of his seven innings, using an effective combination of fastball, changeup and curveball.
Santiago Espinal and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reached on base hits in the third inning, then came in and scored on an error by Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. and a sacrifice bunt by Bo Bichette. That tied the game at 2 and was the only Blue Jays offense until Kirk’s homer.
A half inning later, Romano was on the mound and made quick work of the Royals, retiring three in a row.
Before the game, he got a pleasant surprise when he was informed he was on the American League roster for Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. He will replace New York Yankees starter Gerrit Cole and join teammates Kirk, Guerrero Jr., Alec Manoa and Santiago Espinal — who was assigned to the team on Saturday — in Los Angeles.
George Springer was also selected, but chose not to attend to rest a sore right elbow that had been bothering him since late June.
“It’s really special,” said Romano, who is from Markham, Ont. “The coaches did a lot of work with me. [Bullpen coach Matt] bushman, [pitching coach] Pete [Walker], Schneider and the entire staff. To see their hard work and my hard work pay off together is really special.”
Romano, 29, entered Sunday tied for the AL lead with 19 saves. He has posted a 2.73 ERA with 37 strikeouts in 33 innings. “I’ve always wanted to go to an All-Star game,” he said. “It wasn’t the ultimate goal, but it was one of my goals.”
With six stars, the Blue Jays are tied with the Yankees and Atlanta Braves for the most among major league clubs.
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