Blue Jays turn to ace for series finale vs. Royals

The Toronto Blue Jays send ace Jose Berrios to the mound Thursday afternoon in the series finale against the host Kansas City Royals.

After taking a second consecutive 3-2 loss on Wednesday, the Blue Jays need a victory on Thursday to earn a split of the four-game series and avoid their first series loss since dropping two out of three to the New York Yankees from April 5-7.

Berrios (4-0, 0.85 ERA) hasn't allowed a run in his last three outings covering 19 2/3 innings. His overall scoreless-innings streak stands at 21 2/3 innings.

"He lives up to his nickname of 'La Makina,'" Toronto manager John Schneider said. "He's a machine. Just knowing you've done it gives you a little bit of confidence to do it again."

After posting three consecutive wins, Berrios is off to the best start of his career.

"This has been a pretty special start to the season," the 29-year-old right-hander said. "I feel more comfortable, more confident."

Schneider added, "He's executing at a really, really high rate. He's handling lefties really well. His breaking ball's really good against lefties. With his stuff and where he's at confidence-wise right now, he's in a really good spot."

In 21 career starts against the Royals, Berrios is 7-5 with a 4.72 ERA, most recently going seven innings and allowing two runs on five hits with seven strikeouts in a 5-2 win on Sept. 10, 2023. Berrios has held Salvador Perez to a .200 average with just three extra-base hits -- all doubles -- in 40 at-bats.

The Blue Jays' bats are scuffling at the moment. Toronto has not scored more than five runs in a game since a 9-8 loss to the Yankees on April 6.

Toronto scored nine total runs in the first three games of the series, with five coming on two swings in the Monday opener. The Blue Jays left 22 runners on base while hitting 3-for-25 with runners in scoring position over the past three games.

Cole Ragans (0-2, 4.32 ERA) will take the ball for Kansas City on Thursday. The left-hander recorded just five outs while matching a career high with seven runs allowed on nine hits in a 9-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday.

"Seven runs should be enough to win," Ragans said. "I've got to flush it. I've got to give us a chance next time."

Perez said, "There was a lot of weak contact. Weak contact, nothing we can do. You know how good Cole is going to be. He'll turn the page."

In his lone career start against the Blue Jays, Ragans allowed two runs on one hit in 5 2/3 innings while taking no decision on Sept. 10, 2023. He struck out six but walked a career-high six.

The Royals have run the bases aggressively while taking two of the first three from the Blue Jays, executing hit-and-runs and double steals. Bobby Witt Jr. stole three bases and Maikel Garcia stole two in the pair of one-run victories.

"That's Royals baseball," Witt said. "We've got to keep doing that on the basepaths, being aggressive there and making things happen. The bats will come around and we'll hit some homers, too. That's our baseball, and that's what we're going to keep doing."