For three innings, it looked like both offenses might push across some runs all night long at Target Field. However, after the dust settled, both offenses went silent over the final five-and-a-half frames as the Minnesota Twins outlasted the Chicago White Sox by a 4-2 score on delightful Wednesday evening in downtown Minneapolis.
Jose Berrios was absolutely brilliant for the Twins, as the 23-year-old right-hander tossed his third quality start in his last four outings and his sixth in eight starts overall since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester. The final line is extremely impressive, as he tied a season-high with eight innings and allowed just four hits with two earned runs as well as eight strikeouts and just one walk.
“Right now I feel great,” Berrios told reporters after the game. “I’ve got a couple quality starts in a row. But right now, I don’t think about that. I’m just trying to stay humble and stay on the earth, enjoy the moment and help the team keep competing.”
It was never exactly rough for Berrios, but he did get off to an inauspicious start. He walked leadoff batter Alen Hanson after starting him 0-2, and saw him move to second on a fielder’s choice and come home on a single off the bat of Avisail Garcia. Garcia picked up second when left fielder Robbie Grossman’s throw wasn’t handled at the plate by catcher Jason Castro — which almost certainly would have resulted in an inning-ending assist for the Twins outfielder — but was stranded at second when Matt Davidson struck out swinging.
Boy, did Davidson have a tough night. More on that later.
The only other run Berrios gave up on the night came in the third inning. Adam Engel opened the inning by chopping a double over third baseman Eduardo Escobar’s head and moved to third when Hanson perfectly placed a bunt down the third base line. Melky Cabrera grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, but Engel raced home to give the White Sox a 2-1 lead just a half inning after the Twins had tied the game.
But that was literally it for the White Sox on the night. After the Hanson bunt single, Berrios settled in to retire the next two batters to end the inning, and retired 14 of the next 15 batters. The only hiccup in that stretch was a routine grounder off the bat of Garcia that was booted by shortstop Ehire Adrianza; otherwise, Berrios retired 14 White Sox batters in a row from the top of the third until catcher Omar Narvaez looped a first-pitch single to left to start the eighth inning. The eighth might have been Berrios’ most impressive inning of the night, as he got Engel to strike out on three pitches after the single from Narvaez, and then erased him from the bases on a 4-6-3 double play to end the innings, and the night for Berrios.
After the White Sox scored in the first inning, the Twins waited until the bottom of the second to return the favor. The Twins had runners on in every inning against White Sox starter David Holmberg, who gave the White Sox their second short start in a row. The lefty lasted just 3.1 innings before giving way to right-handed reliever Gregory Infante, giving up seven hits and four runs (two earned). Infante and Michael Ynoa combined to throw 4.2 scoreless innings the rest of the way, but the White Sox offense simply couldn’t solve Berrios.
In the bottom of the second, the Twins opened the inning with back-to-back singles from Max Kepler and Byron Buxton. An Adrianza bunt landed just a few feet in front of home plate and resulted in Kepler being thrown out at third, but two batters later Brian Dozier crushed an opposite-field double to bring home the first run of the game for the Twins and tie it, 1-1.
After the White Sox responded in the top of the third, the Twins wasted little time tying the game. Miguel Sano tattooed an 88 mph fastball on 3-0 from Holmberg into the right-center stands 414 feet from home plate to tie the game 2-2. Grossman followed by reaching on an error by shortstop Tim Anderson, and then picked up third on a single to left field by Kennys Vargas. It was a good read off the bat from Grossman, who saw that Cabrera — a left-handed throwing outfielder — had to move to his left to field the ball, and thus had no real way to throw him out at third. Kepler followed with his second single in as many innings — a smash off the glove of Jose Abreu at first — to give the Twins their first lead of the night, with Vargas motoring around to third base.
Anderson’s second mix-up of the night helped give the Twins their final run. With Adrianza at the plate, Vargas at third and Kepler at first, the shortstop grounded what looked like a sure-fire, inning-ending double play ball to Yolmer Sanchez at second base. Anderson was late getting over to cover the bag, however, and double-clutched his throw, which allowed Adrianza to reach first safely and also allowed Vargas to score the Twins’ third run of the inning and oddly enough, cap the scoring at 4-2 in the bottom of the third.
Brandon Kintzler worked around a single from Garcia to throw a clean ninth inning for his 19th save of the year in 22 opportunities.
Here’s what we saw from our vantage point:
Berrios was absolutely dazzling
The talented young right-hander added and subtracted from his fastball all night long, sitting in the 91 mph range at times and running it up as high as 96.6 mph when he needed it. Brooks Baseball had him with 16 swinging strikes: eight on the curve, six on the four-seam fastball and one apiece on the two-seamer and the changeup. After a bit of a murky start, Berrios also showed remarkable pitch economy, as he threw just 34 pitches over his final four innings. Saving the bullpen may prove important with Nik Turley taking the mound on Thursday afternoon.
He also set a season-high with 10 grounders induced (from 28 batters faced), as his season rate is now up to 44.8 percent — at or around league average. Last season with the Twins, it was just 38 percent. As you all know, balls in the air are far more likely to be backbreaking extra-base hits, so this is a positive development.
Nobody had a worse night than Davidson
“I think the two-seam fastball,” Berrios answered when asked what pitch he thought was working best for him on the night. “I think, the third baseman Davidson tonight…I might have broken his leg, but…” he added with a smirk.
What Berrios is referring to is that Davidson went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts to start the game. If that wasn’t enough, the White Sox third baseman also fouled a ball off his leg in each of those plate appearances as well. On the second one, he actually required a visit from the training staff, and on the third, he actually turned back toward the dugout as if to mime “Is this real life?” to his teammates on the third base side.
It’s a little surprising the Twins didn’t score more runs
Holmberg was far from impressive, as he just didn’t get enough first-pitch strikes (11-of-20) to keep the Twins off his mid-to-upper-80s fastball or to use his fairly solid changeup. Infante and Ynoa wrapped up the night by keeping the Twins at bay, but the two hurlers allowed seven baserunners in 4.2 innings, and the Twins stranded 12 runners all night long as they were just 2-of-13 with runners in scoring position. On a night with a lesser starter dealing for the Twins, this may have been a more magnified issue.
It wasn’t pretty, but the White Sox bullpen held the Twins offense at bay
Infante brought some pretty good heat from the right side — as high as 97.6 mph — which again fits that profile like Zach McAllister in the last series where a manager brings in the direct opposite type of pitcher after a soft-tossing starter. But he didn’t exactly locate it well, as he threw just 6-of-11 first-pitch strikes, walked three batters (though two were Sano intentionally) and allowed two hits. Ynoa was a bit more effective in his 2.1 innings of work, but wasn’t necessarily impressive. He didn’t strike out a batter, and got just one swinging strike on 25 pitches.
The Twins ran at will against Narvaez and friends
That included Dozier, who racked up his 10th steal of the year — his fifth season in a row with double-digit thefts. Adrianza also recorded the first multi-steal game of his career — he had three — including stealing second and third in the same inning. Overall, the Twins were 4-for-4 on the bases, with Narvaez not having much of a chance due to how his pitchers handled the running game. Dozier’s steal was the only one that didn’t come off Holmberg, for what it’s worth. You’d think a lefty might have a better move.
Escobar just keeps on raking
He extended his hitting streak to eight games, and is up to .300/.350/.493 on the season. That’s legit “find this guy some playing time every day” and then some as far as that line is concerned. It wouldn’t be surprising if he DH’d against the White Sox to wrap the series up, especially if manager Paul Molitor wants to get Jorge Polanco back into the lineup on getaway day.
That ball Sano hit went into orbit, and also led to him being intentionally walked twice
Sano got the green-light on 3-0 against Holmberg in the third inning, and like Bert Blyleven would say, “He did not miss it.” “Sometimes I won’t give him the green light if he’s leaning off an innning,” Molitor said wistfully after the game. “But most of the time I will, because he’s in scoring position when he’s at home plate.”
“Last night I had the green light 3-0,” Sano said after the game. “In the same situation today, I tried to hit the ball hard. Last night I tried to do too much.”
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Notes and Quotes
- The Twins have beaten the White Sox four straight times and seven times in 10 games this season.
- This sealed a series victory for the Twins, their first since taking two of three from the Royals from May 19-21.
- Berrios has pitched into the eighth inning four times in eight starts this season. He also has a decision in all eight of his starts (7-1).
- Cabrera and Abreu (both 0-for-4) each had an eight-game hitting streak snapped in the loss.
- Berrios on the game plan against the White Sox: “Tonight we tried to attack hitters in on the plate. Be ahead in the count, then use secondary pitches. It was successful tonight.”
- Sano on if it’s hard to reach that part of the park as a right-handed hitter: “Nothing is difficult in life if you’re positive. If you believe in your mind you can do it, you can do whatever you want.”
- Sano on his response to the intentional walks: “I want to swing, but they give me the walks because if I can give the team more than two runs with a swing, they prefer to give me a walk and try to get the double play.”
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