Jose Berrios will be a reluctant starter Sunday afternoon when the Toronto Blue Jays face the visiting Minnesota Twins in the rubber match of a three-game series.
The right-hander will be facing the only team he had played for until he was traded to the Blue Jays at the deadline in July. It is a start he would rather not make.
“I don’t want to,” Berrios said. “They used to be my guys, but now, they’re in a different dugout and team. That’s what it is.”
Berrios (11-8, 3.43 ERA) was 7-5 with a 3.48 ERA in 20 starts for Minnesota this season and is 4-3 with a 3.31 mark in nine starts for Toronto.
The 27-year-old was traded for two top prospects, infielder Austin Martin and pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson. The move means a chance to play in the postseason this season with the Blue Jays (83-65), who occupy one of the American League wild-card spots after their 6-2 win Saturday.
The Twins (65-84) have been eliminated from postseason contention after winning the AL Central in the two previous seasons.
“Obviously, the postseason, that’s what every player wants,” Berrios said. “But I’d been having fun with the (Twins). … But here, they have a lot of fun, too. So they made it easier for me to get here and try to get used to it because of the way they like to have fun out there. I’ve enjoyed it so far.”
It might be an awkward situation facing former teammates. “But as soon as the action starts, all of that goes to the side and everyone tries to win,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It’ll be fun. I’m glad he’s pitching.”
Berrios left his start against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday with some tightness in the abdominal area, but Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Berrios is ready to start on Sunday.
The Twins are starting Luke Farrell (1-0, 1.31 ERA) on Sunday. The right-hander will be facing the Blue Jays for the first time.
The Blue Jays had lost their previous eight games to the Twins at the Rogers Centre dating to 2017 before their win on Saturday.
The Twins have won nine of the last 13 meetings with the Blue Jays overall.
Former Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson hit his 24th home run of the season for the Twins on Saturday.
It was his second homer of the series and the 65th of his career at Rogers Centre, passing Shawn Green for the seventh most by a player at the park.
Marcus Semien hit his career-best 40th homer of the season in the fourth inning Saturday. He is the fifth second baseman in major league history to reach that plateau. Semien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (46) are the fourth pair of Blue Jays teammates to reach 40 homers in the same season and the first since Jose Bautista and Donaldson (2015).
Toronto’s Teoscar Hernandez lofted a three-run homer in the fourth on Saturday that scraped over the left-field wall. It was his 28th homer of the season. His 20 RBIs in September trail only teammate Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (26) for the most in the majors.
Nick Gordon started at shortstop for the Twins and was 1-for-3. Shortstop Andrelton Simmons is unavailable for the series because of visa issues.
Toronto put right-hander Joakim Soria on the family medical emergency list and recalled Anthony Castro from Triple-A Buffalo.
