MIAMI -- Lightning and thunder crackled practically right above loanDepot park on Monday afternoon as rain pounded the pavement outside the ballpark ahead of the series opener between the Blue Jays and the Marlins.

Hours later, the rain still pouring, it seemed like the sky was falling on the Toronto squad. Miami cracked a season-high 19 hits and handed the Blue Jays an 11-0 loss, their first regular-season shutout defeat since Sept. 15, 2022.

Toronto desperately needed José Berríos to kick off the series in South Florida with his ninth quality start of the season. Instead, his outing mirrored the downcast atmosphere outside.

Berríos has been Toronto’s most consistent starter thus far. He entered Monday with the third-lowest ERA among Major Leaguers since April 14 (2.27). Six innings -- or even five -- would have been perfect for the Blue Jays, who had called on eight relievers in three games vs. the Rangers over the weekend.

“It's been huge,” manager John Schneider said of Berríos’ season thus far before the game. “After the year he had last year, to kind of come in and get back to his normal self really hasn't surprised us, but really has kind of stabilized us a little bit. … Hopefully, he can continue to get deep into games, you know, [and] -- not hopefully, but a no-hit bid through six would be great.”

But Berríos was no match for a potent Miami team on its hottest stretch in almost two decades. He threw 100 pitches (59 strikes) through four innings and allowed five runs on eight hits (one home run) and one walk, striking out four. It was Berríos’ shortest start since a four-inning outing on April 8, when he allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits vs. the Angels.

“They made him work,” Schneider said postgame. “[He] threw a lot of pitches, ran deep counts. I think the execution just wasn't quite there with either fastball or breaking ball. Good lineup, and they're playing well right now. I think [the] pitch count just got him today.”

Berríos got off to a solid start, allowing just two hits through two innings. But the righty got into trouble in the third inning, when he nearly doubled his pitch count and allowed three runs on four hits. But after a mound visit, Berríos proved that his stuff hadn’t deserted him yet, striking out Joey Wendle and Jon Berti to end the frame and the Marlins’ advance.

A 3-0 deficit is not an insurmountable lead, and it is nothing the Blue Jays haven’t handled before. But it didn’t stay that way for long. Berríos relinquished two more runs in the fourth; after a leadoff walk and a hit-by-pitch, Major League hits leader Luis Arraez picked up his third straight hit, an RBI single. Jorge Soler hit a sac fly, and soon after that, Jesús Sánchez added an RBI groundout.

“They’ve been playing pretty well lately,” Berríos said. “We were trying to attack [them] with my pitches, trying to execute them. But they did a better [job] than me. So, you know, that's baseball.

“They've been taking pitches in, off the zone -- like, there [were pitches] that look like a strike, but it was off. They've been [taking] -- they don't swing at bad pitch. So I think that's why they get better results against me.”

Behind Berríos, the bullpen -- worn down from a combination of starter struggles and Toronto missing one of its rotation mainstays (Alek Manoah, who finished third in AL Cy Young voting last year, is in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League rebuilding his foundation) -- needed a break. But that break never came.

Trent Thornton, who was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on Monday, did provide a respite in the fifth and sixth, a bright spot on an otherwise forgettable night.

Besides Thornton (who threw two scoreless innings and allowed just two hits), a relief corps consisting of Nate Pearson, Mitch White and position player Ernie Clement (who pitched the eighth inning) allowed six runs on nine hits and one walk.

It also didn’t help that the Blue Jays’ offense was stifled by the Marlins, tallying just seven hits and going 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.

“[It’s] kind of where we're at,” Schneider said. “That's kind of been the theme a little bit, and we've been talking about it for a little bit, and hopefully the numbers start to neutralize and things start going our way.”