Former Twin José Berríos pulled early despite 'electric' performance for Toronto

Before he started Game 2 of a wild-card playoff series at a Target Field he once called home, Toronto pitcher José Berríos called it special to be back with his family and young son born in Minnesota.

It was, for barely three innings and a mere 47 pitches in Wednesday's 2-0 loss to the Twins that ended the Blue Jays' season.

Berríos walked one batter in the fourth inning in a performance Blue Jays manager John Schneider alternately called "electric" and "probably the best stuff he has had all year."

He still pulled him anyway in a scoreless duel with Twins starter Sonny Gray.

The former Twin threw 32 of his 47 pitches for strikes, allowed three hits, struck out five and was deemed responsible for one run in a surprisingly short outing that was all about numbers and strategy rather than Berríos' work.

"We had a few different plans in place," Schneider said. "José was aware of it. Tough to take him out, but I think the way they're constructed, you want to utilize your whole roster. It didn't work out."

The Twins scored their only two runs in the fourth inning after the righthanded Berríos carefully walked young star Royce Lewis.

Berríos was replaced by lefthander Yusei Kikuchi in a decision Schneider indicated was organizational and intended to force the Twins to abandon their loaded lefthanded lineup.

One batter after Lewis walked, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli sent righthanded Donovan Solano in to bat for lefthanded first baseman Alex Kirilloff. Lewis and Max Kepler scored the game's only runs even with another pinch hitter that inning, switch hitter Willi Castro, grounding into a double play.

"I know the way the game is played today," Schneider said. "There are a lot of numbers and a lot of opinions involved. I think not only us [as] an organization or me as a manager, we've shown throughout the course of the year that you trust people. You look at how unique their lineup is — left- and righthanded — and you look at what we have in the bullpen, especially against their righthanded hitters.

"In a short three-game series, you try to utilize everyone the best you can and today it didn't work for us."

Berríos, 29, broke into the major leagues with the Twins his first six seasons, starting in 2016. He was traded to Toronto in July 2021 for pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson and shortstop Austin Martin.

On Wednesday, Berríos called Minnesota "where I grew up" as a big league ballplayer.

He stayed on the field to watch his former team and some of his former teammates celebrate their first playoff series victory since 2002. He congratulated both Twins assistant pitching coach Luis Ramirez and infielder Jorge Polanco, with whom he played in the team's minor league system.

"I see my brothers over there," Berríos said. "Besides baseball, they have good people over there. They're good people. They care about people. I wanted to say congratulations."

Schneider said Berríos knew of the plan to pull him early. Kikuchi was already in the bullpen warming up in the second inning.

"We're in an elimination game, I know we had to give all we got in this game," Berríos said. "That's what I did. I understand the move. I'm a competitive guy. Everybody knows I work hard. Right after they took me out, I felt bad because I wanted to keep going out there…

"I feel bad we lost, but you have to enjoy. We're still here, playing the sport we love, watching my teammates from Minnesota. It wasn't bad to watch those innings."