Jose Berrios gave up five runs, three earned, in 2.2 innings pitched on Sunday, throwing more balls (35) than strikes (30). Carlos Santana’s three-run bomb in the second knocked him out of the game, and perhaps out of the rotation for the rest of the season.
“You can see that he’s either putting too much pressure on himself or just having a hard time locating,” Molitor told the Star Tribune, noting that he is going to do what is best for his youngest player going forward. “A lot of balls over the course of his outing, a lot of hitters’ counts, like his last start.”
“Of course I was a little surprised,” Berrios told the Pioneer Press through a team interpreter when asked about being pulled so early. “I can’t complain about it. Everyone has given me their support. I’m the one that can’t seem to pull through, so it’s part of the deal.”
To put Berrios’ performance in context, of the 25 rookies who have made 10 starts this season, only nine have ERAs below 4.00. Berrios’ 9.24 ERA, however, is the worst of all of them.
“We’ve got to look at the bright side of his youth — arm strength and those things that we still feel will play here. It’s just tough to get over these speed bumps that he’s had to face here at the major league level,” Molitor told the Star Tribune. “I still believe it’s there. It just hasn’t happened up here very consistently yet.”
[Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Associated Press]
