Jose Berrios rocked as Blue Jays’ skid goes from bad to brutal

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As if the Blue Jays needed another body blow to a season plummeting toward rock bottom, it came against one of the few consistently reliable pieces of the struggling team on Tuesday night.

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And just like that, things went from bad to brutal in a humiliating 10-1 blowout loss to the red-hot Philadelphia Phillies.

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While not much should surprise people now given the Jays’ current form, the latest non-competitive drubbing added to the shock factor as the hosts pounced on ace Jose Berrios, who entered the contest with the best ERA in the American League.

And now a team that GM Ross Atkins promised would benefit from internal improvement and manager John Schneider insists will be better any day now has seen its record drop to 16-20 and has lost five of its past six and 10 of 13.

Oof.

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If the Maple Leafs’ usual abbreviated playoff run was deflecting some attention away from the Jays’ unsightly struggles, they no longer have that shield as a weekend home series looms against the Minnesota Twins squad that bounced them from the playoffs last fall.

Barring a sudden turn for the good, it could get ugly around the renovated Rogers Centre as a disgruntled fan base may be well be growing weary (or worse) from the developments that followed the meek playoff exit to the Twins.

Just where that turn is going to come from is getting more difficult to imagine as the Jays continue to labour at the plate, are fighting injuries in their bullpen and are still in search of a reliable fifth starter.

The loss in this mini two-game set at Citizen’s Bank Park against the sizzling Phillies guarantees that the Jays will go five series without a win, having dropped their previous four sets.

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Losing to the Phillies (26-11) is no shame as the National League East leaders have now won seven in a row, but the grim reality for the Jays is that finding a pathway out of this mess won’t come easily.

Including Wednesday’s matinee against the Phillies, their next seven games — featuring series against the Minnesota Twins and Baltimore Orioles — are against opponents who prior to Tuesday’s play were a combined 32 games above .500.

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The Jays? Not so much.

In fact, they are off to their worst start since 2019 and are well off the 21-15 pace they were at through 36 games in an 89-win season in 2023.

The more popular sliver of hope publicly emanating from the team centres on the belief that the group is better than its performance so far, a fact that may well be true but less convincing with each lost.

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And even when (if?) things turn around for the Jays, each loss in this current funk piles onto the challenge ahead, one that will be hard to tackle without more than a modest hot streak or two. As hitters continue to struggle and pitching issues remain unsolved, cause for optimism becomes more muted.

The Jays have been wearing it hard of late, no more so than on Tuesday when Schneider — notorious for some epic umpire encounters in his minor-league days — lost it on third base ump Paul Clemons after the fourth and was tossed.

While Schneider clearly had a beef with Clemons’ “no swing” call on the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, we’re thinking the manager’s eruption ran deeper than that. We saw it on the weekend when struggling shortstop Bo Bichette was ejected for slamming his helmet to the ground.

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And who could blame them? With each passing loss, the heat rises on the players, the manager and the front office of a team that has clearly lost its way.

GAME ON

Part of what has made the Phillies such a juggernaut this season is that they rarely trail early in games. When a Nick Castellanos RBI double brought in a run, it was the 38th first-inning run they’ve scored in 37 games. Not exactly an ideal start for their opponents, who are basically the opposite and it got ugly … Bryce Harper hit a grand slam off of Berrios in the fourth inning. Recent minor-league call-up Kody Clemens had a two-run homer in the second and drove in another run on a fourth-inning triple … The lone Jays run came in the seventh inning when an Isiah Kiner-Falefa groundout scored Danny Jansen from third … With Berrios’ night ending early, the Jays cycled through five relievers, but with none pitching more than 1 1/3 innings that shouldn’t be an issue for the Wednesday contest.

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AROUND THE BASES

Former Jays starter Aaron Sanchez, signed a minor-league deal with the club on Monday and has reported to Buffalo, where he is tentatively scheduled to start for the triple-A Bisons on Friday. For now, consider the move minor-league pitching depth as the 31-year-old right-hander faces an uphill battle to return to the big leagues … Sticking with the razor-thin Jays pitching situation, the expectation is that Alek Manoah will make his first home start since 2024 with a Rogers Centre assignment against the Twins on Sunday … Also in Buffalo, a would-be Blue Jays bat continues to produce: Highly ranked prospect Orelvis Martinez banged out his ninth home run of the season for the Bisons on Tuesday.

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