Maybe it was nerves, maybe it was the cold, but Jose Berrios didn't have his best command as he labored through 4+ innings as the Twins lost 6-5 to the Indians. At times he was flashing his stuff that made him a top prospect as he notched 5 strikeouts in his 4 innings of work, but he also threw 93 pitches (56 strikes) and walked two while allowing 5 earned runs.
It's too bad because the Twins staked him to a 3-0 lead after the 1st inning. Danny Santana led off with a double and with one out, Joe Mauer walked. Miguel Sano then hit a ground-rule double to center field to score Santana and Byung Ho Park followed with a sacrifice fly to score Mauer. The scoring culminated with an RBI single by Oswaldo Arcia, giving the appearance that Berrios would be able to coast through his debut.
However, the Indians started getting to Berrios. A 2-run double from Francisco Lindor put Cleveland on the board in the 3rd inning, and an RBI double from Jason Kipnis chased Berrios in the 5th. Fernando Abad was summoned to keep the game tied, but he allowed both of his inherited runners to score when Lindor recorded an RBI groundout and Michael Brantley reached on a sacrifice fly error when Eddie Rosario misjudged Brantley's fly ball. Michael Tonkin replaced Abad but wasn't any more effective as he gave up an RBI single to Mike Napoli as the Indians put up 4 runs to take a 6-3 lead.
The Twins started to claw back from there. In the bottom of the inning, Rosario reached on a fielder's choice and advanced to 3rd base on a throwing error during a pickoff by pitcher Josh Tomlin. Rosario was then plated by Santana with a single to cut the deficit to two. Then in the next inning, Byung Ho Park continued to demonstrate that he indeed belongs in the major leagues when he blasted a 440+ home run off the batter's eye to bring the Twins within one.
That was as far as they could get, though, as the Indians bullpen did just enough to keep the Twins from scoring. Park struck out with the bases loaded in the 7th and Dozier and Mauer were unable to score Santana from 2nd base in the 9th as the Twins exited long after 11 pm with the loss.
WP: Josh Tomlin (3-0)
LP: Jose Berrios (0-1)
S: Cody Allen (7)
Studs
Danny Santana (3-for-5, 2B, R, RBI, SB), Byung Ho Park (1-for-3, HR, 2 RBI), Miguel Sano (1-for-3, BB, 2B, RBI)
Duds
Jose Berrios (4 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 2 BB, 5 K), Brian Dozier (0-for-5, K)