The Reds right-hander went from his worst career performance to a respectable effort in a matter of days, and he said he didn't do anything different in the outings.
In fact, he said he pitched worse in the victory.
"It was one of those days. I got away with a lot of stuff," Arroyo said.
"I threw out there a lot more bad pitches than I did in Toronto. It's the truth. I hung a lot of breaking balls and left a lot of balls up in the zone."
In six innings Sunday, Arroyo allowed five hits, two runs (one earned), walked two, struck out six and surrendered a home run.
He improved to 5-7 with a 6.19 ERA and collected his first win since May 26.
It was a far cry from the Toronto performance, during which Arroyo became the sixth starting pitcher in Major League history to allow at least 10 earned runs in a game in which he retired three or fewer batters.
Arroyo lasted a career-low one-plus innings against the Blue Jays. He tied career highs with 11 hits and 10 runs allowed and set a career high with 10 earned runs allowed.
After the debacle he said he tried to focus on his normal routine. It seemed to work.
Sunday, he struck out three straight batters swinging to end the first inning and posted a shutout for five innings.
"He was sharp. His fastball was better than it had been. I looked up there and it was 91, 92. And he threw some real good breaking balls early," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.
Arroyo said it was all about luck.
"I came out of the first inning and Dick Pole said, 'Must be turning for you man, because you just hung two curveballs bad. And I struck the guy out,' " Arroyo said, laughing.
In any case, the win snapped Arroyo's three-game losing streak.
"It was just one of those days they were popping them all up - foul balls, and couple of them were hit pretty deep and got caught at the wall," Arroyo said.
