'Hated it': Blue Jays players unhappy with John Schneider's move to pull José Berríos

MINNEAPOLIS − Toronto starter José Berríos was cruising against his éBerríformer team, the Minnesota Twins, when Blue Jays manager John Schneider came to the mound to yank him.

He had pitched just three innings, thrown just 47 pitches, and allowed just three hits while striking out five.

No matter.

The moment he walked Royce Lewis to lead off the fourth inning, Schneider decided he was done, setting off a firestorm on social media, recalling Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash’s decision to pull starter Blake Snell in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series.

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This move blew up, too, when left-handed Yusei Kikuchi came in and gave up an infield single to Max Kepler. He then walked pinch-hitter Donovan Solano, loading the bases. Carlos Correa made him pay the price with a single to center field for the first run of the game, and they scored another on pinch hitter Willi Castro’s double-play grounder.

Those would be the only two runs in the Twins' 2-0 win at Target Field on Wednesday, ending the Blue Jays' 2023 campaign.

Certainly, it will be a move that the Blue Jays will have to live with all winter – but the truth is the pitching change was orchestrated before the game.

If it wasn’t pre-planned, Kikuchi would not have been warming up in the inning after Correa’s infield hit and Yimi Garcia wouldn’t have been warming up in the third inning.

Schneider was asked about it after the game.

"We had a few different plans in place," he said. "José was aware of it. He had electric stuff. Tough to take him out. But I think with the way they're constructed, you want to utilize your whole roster. It didn't work out.

"You can look at it broadly say it didn't work out because they scored two runs when we did make a change. You can also look at the fact it didn't work out and we didn't take advantage of at-bats we had with runners in scoring position.

"So you can sit here and second-guess me, second-guess the organization, second-guess anybody. I get that. I get that. And it's tough. And it didn't work out for us today or yesterday.

"But that's baseball sometimes. There's 29 teams that are going to say the same thing when the season's over. But yes, tough way to end the year."

Other Blue Jays players weren't happy about the move either.

"I hated it, frankly. It's not what cost us the game, but it's the kind of baseball decisions that are taking away from managers and baseball, at this stage of the game," utilityman Whit Merrifield said.

Said Vladimir Guerrero Jr.: “Obviously, everybody was surprised. Everybody was surprised with the decision, but there are things you cannot control. You can ask yourself many times, but it’s not our decision. We were surprised.”