Twins 4, Indians 1: Berrios shines in debut

There was a lot of anticipation for Jose Berrios’ first start this year. After dominating AAA again, he was called up to add life to the back of the Twins’ rotation.

He did not disappoint.

The Indians first, and as it turned out, only run came in the third inning. After getting the firs, 6t two outs, Carlos Santana drove a pitch to deep center. Byron Buxton ran back and leaped at the wall, but the ball rolled out of his glove. Lots of running later, Santana was at third with a triple. Berrios lost his control and threw a wild pitch to Francisco Lindor, allowing Santana to score from 3rd. Berrios eventually got the final out with no more damage happening.

Suddenly, the Twins offense had to score more than one run, so they got to work. By this point they hadn’t gotten their first hit, just a few walks. So, they started the 4th with back to back walks by Robbie Grossman and Miguel Sano, determined to score runs without hits. Joe Mauer laid (layed?) down a bunt, which Mike Clevinger fielded but then threw away down the first base line, scoring Grossman. Vargas hit a grounder to Lindor, scoring Sano, and then Jorge Polanco singled to give the Twins a 3-1 lead.

Berrios proceeded to have 1-2-3 innings in the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th. In the 8th, he hit Lonnie Chisenhall, but got Yan Gomes to groundout and then struck out Abraham Almonte on a 95 mph fastball. Taylor Rogers got Santana to pop out to end the inning.

In the 6th, Max Kepler added an insurance run in the form of a solo blast to right. 4-1, Twins. More importantly, a squirrel appeared on the field for about 4 minutes before jumping into the stands. Roy Smalley said it was “the worst thing that could happen to Berrios” or something.

Brandon Kintzler closed out the game in the 9th, pushing the Twins to five games over .500. You may recall that this never happened last year. Good times.

STUDS:

Jose Berrios: 7.2 IP, 2H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

Max Kepler: Hit a dinger, other line drivers.

Joe Mauer: 2-4, bunt single

DUDS:

Jason Castro: 0-4, 2 K

Byron Buxton: 0-3, K

ROBOT ROLL CALL:

Late night recaps for the win.