Berríos bounceback rolls in on Blue Jays’ win over White Sox

Here’s what you need to know about the Blue Jays’ 7-0 win over the White Sox at Rogers Centre on Tuesday:

Blazing Berríos

José Berríos built off two previous terrific outings against the Rays and Astros with his best night yet this season. The much-maligned right-hander started by striking out the side in order in the first inning, with his final fastball of the frame checking in at 97.4 miles per hour, the hardest he has thrown a pitch since 2018. He went on to throw seven shutout innings, allowing four hits and one walk against nine strikeouts. Only once did a runner get as far as third base. After a shaky start to the season, the 28-year-old has a sparkling 1.42 ERA over his last three starts.

A day late

Monday was the Jays’ Danny Jansen-Jordan Romano handshake bobblehead night, but while Romano closed out the 5-2 win for his league-leading eighth save of the season, Jansen never got in the game. The catcher made up for it in a big way Tuesday, giving his team the early lead with a three-run home run into the Jays bullpen. Next time up, he singled and scored on Kevin Kiermaier’s two-run triple and, just for good measure, Jansen went deep again leading off the bottom of the sixth. Since going into the April 15 game against the Rays batting a microscopic .040, Jansen is hitting .421.

Welcome back

Nate Pearson took over for Berríos and worked a hitless eighth inning in his first major-league appearance in over 18 months. The last time the six-foot-six right-hander threw in a big-league game, it was a shutout sixth inning in the 2021 season finale against the Baltimore Orioles. There may have been some jitters, as Pearson let a 2-and-2 pitch get away from him, plunking leadoff hitter Elvis Andrus with a 98-m.p.h. heater, but he settled down and got a ground ball and a pop-up and finished his night by freezing Andrew Benintendi with an 0-and-2 curveball for his first strikeout of the season.

Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast “Deep Left Field.” Follow him on Twitter: @wilnerness

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