Orioles 12, Blue Jays 2: Jose Berrios blasted as Toronto humiliated in opener

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There was a full house at the Rogers Centre for the gala season opener, turned downer, a humiliating defeat for a team coming off a last-place season.

And given the abomination that unfolded over the ensuing two hours and 49 minutes it took for the Baltimore Orioles to throttle the Jays 12-2, there’s a good chance it will be the last time in the foreseeable future that the team plays before anywhere near to such a full house.

Such is the plight of a team not only tasked with winning games, but winning back a fan base. And both of those challenges met miserable failure on Thursday.

A season in which so much good needs to happen — and in a hurry — got off to a whimper of a start thanks to the O’s feasting on Jays starter Jose Berrios to the tune of three home runs. The game was as good as over after Berrios’ five innings of work, but the futility was just getting started.

How bad was it? After back-to-back eighth-inning homers from Adley Rutschman (his second of the game) and Jordan Westburg, the crowd went from cranky to ornery in a hurry. You thought the smattering of boos for the U.S. anthem was something? That was nothing compared to the racket from the Jays (un)faithful after run 12 for the O’s, followed poetically with a derisive chorus following a routine fly ball out later in the eighth.

How ugly was it? The Orioles had almost double the homers (six) to hits produced by the new-look Toronto offence (four). The last of those, by the way, resulted in an out anyway when a chugging Alejandro Kirk tried to stretch a single into a double and was easily tagged out at second in the penultimate out of the game.

On to our three takeaways from an excruciating and disheartening defeat and a party-pooper afternoon that, let’s face it, a good portion of the team’s fan base feared heading into the season.

1. BATTERED BERRIOS

The right-hander was making his third opening day start for the Jays and O’s hitters were in attack mode. A first-inning homer from Rutschman — the second batter of the game — set the tone. Worse, it continued the O’s catcher’s personal assault on Berrios. After that 436-foot rocket, Rutschman is now 15-for-25 against the personal Puerto Rican with four homers.

The big bomb, however, came from the bat of Canadian Tyler O’Neill in the third, a three-run history making shot. Incredibly, it was an MLB-record sixth consecutive opening day homer for the B.C. native.

Berrios, meanwhile, was shaky throughout, not managing a single clean inning of the five he pitched. He allowed six runs on nine hits — three of those homers — while working through 90 pitches.

2. OH OH O’s

Adding to the buzzkill was the prolific output of the O’s, a year removed from their AL East division title and looking to rebound to that form with a strong start to 2025.

Turns out it was explosive.

When Cedric Mullins bombarded Jays reliever Chad Green for his second homer of the game — and the fourth by his team — a three-run shot in the seventh, it was the 11th hit on the afternoon for the Orioles and expanded their lead to 9-2.

What does this mean? As a one off, not much. But as a part of the stiff test the Jays face early this season, it was the first of seven meetings against the division rival in their first 17 days.

3. LINE ‘EM UP

It was an ongoing point of discussion through spring training just how manager John Schneider was going to construct his lineup. With only three truly reliable bats in the lineup, creativity was always going to be an option.

And the question remained … who was his fourth best hitter?

Not surprisingly, given how the lineups were made most of the spring, Bo Bichette hit leadoff followed by Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Anthony Santander. There were a few raised eyebrows when Andres Gimenez hit cleanup but perhaps there shouldn’t have been.

The all-world defender at second base quietly showed some progress at the plate in spring training and on Thursday, he rewarded his new manager by launching a two-run homer in the fourth.

With the top three not mustering a hit between them, the only other “bright” spot for the Jays came from Alan Roden, making his major league debut. Hitting in the nine-spot and playing right field, Roden mustered a harmless single in the sixth.

UP NEXT

In baseball, the action comes fast and furious and the Jays seven-game home stand to start the season continues with Game 2 of 4 against the O’s. Kevin Gausman, who had a much better spring than a year ago gets the ball to face veteran Baltimore starter Charlie Morton.

Schneider confirmed that 40-year-old veteran Max Scherzer’s wonky right thumb has recovered enough to handle Saturday’s assignment.

“He’s good,” Schneider said. “He came firing in here this morning going over scouting reports with (pitching coach Pete Walker.) He’s kind of flipping into regular season mode.”

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