Cole's shutout a preview of tough pitching that looms in post-season for Blue Jays

TORONTO — What a service the New York Yankees have provided for the post-season clubs that may run into the Toronto Blue Jays, should they get there as expected, during the past week.

Sure, not every team can run out two starters the calibre of Michael King and the clear American League Cy Young favourite in Gerrit Cole, who punctuated his brilliant year with a two-hit shutout.

But there’s lots from their outings for, say, the scouting staff and analytics department of the Minnesota Twins to pull from as they gameplan how Sonny Gray and Pablo Lopez might attack the Blue Jays. And while there are no secrets between the Blue Jays and the Tampa Bay Rays, the latter is always on the hunt for any little edge to deploy with the likes of Tyler Glasnow and Zach Eflin.

So, as much as Wednesday night’s 6-0 loss was an immediate setback that again pushed back their clinching of a post-season berth, it was also a portent of things to come, both this weekend when the Rays arrive to close out the regular season and beyond, assuming there’s a beyond.

The Blue Jays (87-71) began the day 1.5 games up on the Houston Astros (86-72) and two games up on the Mariners (85-72), with the AL West rivals clashing in Seattle later Wednesday.

To that end, figuring out a pathway to more damage against elite starters is an obvious Blue Jays priority after combining for five hits and no runs the past two nights, just as it has been for much of the season.

“I mean, it's going to be tough, right? Whenever you're playing at this time of year or into the post-season, you're facing really good pitching," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "There are ways to take advantage of that, whether you get on base and use the running game like we did in Tampa or string some hits together or try to do some damage. There were some good at-bats strung together throughout the game and a couple of balls that were just missed, a couple of deep counts and just didn't really hit the pitch that we should.

“Going forward, you have to continue to, for one, trust the guys that are here and understand that they are a really good team and you have to really take advantage of mistakes, is the biggest thing. There are nights that you do it, there are nights you don't and the last two nights are the latter.”

As Schneider mentioned, it’s not like the opportunity wasn't there, as Cole repeatedly challenged and beat them in the strike zone.

Doing damage, of course, is much easier said than done when Cole is throwing five pitches out of the same tunnel moving in different directions at different speeds.

Dude is likely to win the Cy Young for good reason.

Still, it’s pitchers like him who’ll be in the Blue Jays’ way should they get to the seventh month.

“Usually with those types of guys, whether it's Michael King, Gerrit Cole, Glasnow, they're going to give you something to hit early, or be in the zone early, and try to make you expand the zone a little bit later,” Schneider said. “So it’s a combination of being ready to hit, but at the same time, you've got to do damage. When you don't do that, you look up and you have the pitch count where it was for Gerrit.”

The Blue Jays will also need to figure out how to navigate hitters like Aaron Judge, not that there are many of those. His two-run homer in the fourth was the first hit off a very strong but unfortunate Jose Berrios, while his two-run homer in the seventh helped push the game further out of reach.

While Judge’s first homer broke the ice and put the Blue Jays in a hole, it was his next plate appearance where things really turned before a Rogers Centre crowd of 31,923.

With two out and one on, Berrios was set to attack the defending AL MVP when pitching coach Pete Walker suddenly came out to the mound. Locked into his pitch, Berrios didn’t notice him until he was in fair territory and after they chatted, missed three times before intentionally walking the slugger.

Berrios then walked Gleyber Torres as well to load the bases for the slumping Giancarlo Stanton, who ripped a hanging breaking ball to left. After Ben Rortvedt scored, Whit Merrifield’s throw home looked set to get Judge but Matt Chapman tried to cut it off, had it clank off his glove and deflect away.

Berrios collected the ball and fired to third to get Torres and escape the inning, but by then the damage was done, as maybe two runs was possible against a top-form Cole, but four wasn’t very likely.

“(Walker) came and the way he talked to me, that was the same plan I had in mind,” Berrios said, "just like trying to make (Judge) chase and don't let him beat us in that situation. That was the plan. …

“The Stanton breaking ball, I left close to him, so I didn't make my pitch in that at-bat.”

That he struck out 10 and was generally overwhelming will be lost for Berrios, who capped off an impressive bounce-back year that has him a candidate to pitch in the second game of a playoff series, or maybe the first if Kevin Gausman is needed Sunday.

To contextualize how important Berrios’ rebound has been, consider where the Blue Jays would be without him given Alek Manoah’s struggles. Essentially, Berrios replaced what Manoah provided a year ago.

"Over the course of the year what he's done has just been another guy that is just constant and stable in your rotation. It's the Jose Barrios that he's been his entire career,” Schneider said. “You can't speak enough about the body of work that he's put in this year and a credit to him and (Pete) for working together and making some adjustments. Overall, this year has been really, really good for Jose."

At the same time, it’s worth noting even in a down year, Berrios provided more last year than Manoah and Hyun Jin Ryu, who have basically shared a rotation spot, combined for this season.

“I battled all year long. I was trying my best to help the team win (as much) as we can,” said Berrios, who pointed to an oddity in the Blue Jays’ record during his starts this season and last. “This year I didn't get as many wins for the team (17-15 when he started) but I threw better based on the numbers. Last year I had worse numbers but I got more wins for the team (23-9 when he started). That’s how baseball is, that’s how hard baseball is. At the end of the day, we have to keep working and be there every five days to help my team.”

Regardless, pairing his contributions this season with Yusei Kikuchi’s year-over-year gains, he’s a big reason why the Blue Jays are on track for a post-season berth, even if they’ve paused their progression this week.

Getting their bats going will be essential, and righty Luke Weaver in the series finale offers just that opportunity. But that’s a temporary reprieve from the type of pitching they’ll have to beat to get where they want to go.