The Minnesota Twins will send RPH Jose Berrios back to the mound and everyone is hoping to see the Berrios we all know & love, the pitcher with a 3 straight seasons with an ERA under 4.00 and getting lower every season of his career while his innings have also gone up in each of those seasons.
Obviously, he’s had his struggles this season but, and we’ve said this before, we know he’s going to put in the work so maybe tonight is the night he gets back on track.
The Brewers will send RHP Brandon Woodruff to the mound. He’s 1-1 with a 3.16 ERA.
The big story of the day was the Twins making a few Twinsactions:
- CF Byron Buxton placed on the 10-Day Injured List (IL) with left shoulder inflammation.
- C Mitch Garver placed on the 10-Day IL with a low-grade intercostal strain
- RHP Lewis Thorpe was optioned to the Twins Alternate Training Site
- OF LaMonte Wade, Jr recalled from the Twins Alternate Training Site
- RHP Zack Littell recalled from the Twins Alternate Training Site.
- C Ryan Jeffers contract selected & he’ll make his 1st MLB Start tonight for his MLB Debut and get to call the game with Jose Berrios on the mound.
Here’s how both teams line up:
Twins Lineup:
RF Max Kepler
SS Jorge Polanco
DH Nelson Cruz
LF Eddie Rosario
1B Miguel Sano
CF Jake Cave
3B Ehire Adrianza
2B Ildemaro Vargas
C Ryan Jeffers
Brewers lineup:
CF Avisail Garcia
DH Christian Yelich
2B Keston Hiura
1B Justin Smoak
RF Ryan Braun
3B Eric Sogard
C Manny Pina
LF Brock Holt
SS Orlando Arcia
It looked like a different Jose Berrios from the get-go tonight. He needed just 13 1st-inning pitches to get Avisail Garcia to groundout to short then strike out both Christian Yelich & Keston Hiura swinging.
The Twins went down 1-2-3 in the 1st as well, popout from Kepler, groundout from Polanco and a groundout from Cruz, too.
Berrios did the same thing in the 2nd inning. He got a groundout and 2 strikeouts but this time they were of the caught looking variety but it was also on 13 pitches. The Twins also went down 1-2-3 again, though. Rosario & Sano both struck out swinging and Jake Cave grounded out to 3rd.
Berrios began the 3rd by getting Manny Pina looking and the Milwaukee bench reacted like it was a bad call but…
Berrios then got Brock Holt to ground out to 1st and struck out Arcia swinging to finish the first time through the Brewers lineup with no hits and 6 strikeouts.
New Twins infield Ildemaro Vargas hit a 1-out triple in the bottom of the 3rd and up came C Ryan Jeffers for his 1st MLB At-Bat in a clutch moment and the infield was in trying to keep the game scoreless in the early goings. But…on a 2-2 pitch, he hit a 96mph heater through the hole on the left side to score Vargas from 3rd for his 1st Major-League Hit and his 1st Major-League RBI to put the Twins up 1-0.
Berrios continued his string of great pitching in the 4th and, even though he walked a batter, he still struck out 2, Yelich swinging and Smoak looking. His offense got a 1-out single from Rosario followed by another Miguel Sano double (his 5th in the last 4 games). Sano’s double went to the left center field wall and Brock Holt picked it up and threw it to the cutoff man for a perfect relay that got Eddie Rosario at home by the slimmest of margins. So slim, the Twins challenged the call but it was upheld as an out. Jake Cave then singled but Adrianza popped out to 3rd to end the 4th inning with nothing to show on the scoreboard but, hey….that’s baseball. It took a perfect play to get Rosie at home. Tip your hat to the opponent on that play.
Berrios came out for the 5th with 59 pitches thrown and still hadn’t given up a hit. He got Ryan Braun to line out to right for the 1st out and bring up 3B Eric Sogard, who, if you remember, broke up Kenta Maeda’s no-hitter on Tuesday. Well, he did it again. This time, it was on a grounder up the middle against the shift. Berrios the struck out Pina for the 2nd time and got Holt to fly out to left field to end the 5th.
In the bottom of the 5th, Ryan Jeffers came to the play again but this time there wasn’t anyone on base and 1 out as Vargas lined out to center field for the 1st out. Jeffers worked the count to his favor at 3-1 and got almost the identical 96mph fastball and he lined it past a diving Arcia for his 2nd hit of his career in his 2nd at-bat of his career. This is easy! See Fastball! Hit Fastball! Kepler & Polanco also singled to load the bases but Nelson grounded into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
Berrios went out for the 6th and set ‘em down 1-2-3 again but none by strikeout as he got a popout, a groundout & a lineout. In the bottom of the inning, Rosie led off with a single to center and Sano walked. Milwaukee then made a pitching change to RHP Freddy Peralta who looked great the last time he pitched against the Twins on Monday, August 10th. He pitched 4 relief innings allowing just 1 hit & 1 walk while striking out 8. Tonight would be different, though. Jake Cave singled on a ball up the middle to load the bases. Ehire Adrianza struck out swinging for the 1st out. Vargas then hit a sacrifice fly to left field and Rosie scored. 2 outs and Jeffers popped up to 1st for the 1st out of his Major League career. A .667 average isn’t bad, though. Don’t be sad! 2-out-of-3 ain’t bad! – Meatloaf
Rocco went to his bullpen to bring in RHP Tyler Duffey. He got Hiura to line out but Justin Smoak took him out of the park for his 3 HR of the season and the first run scored against Duffey this season. In 9 innings pitched, he had allowed just 4 hits and no walks and had struck out 12 for a .044 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched). He then got Braun & Sogard to ground out to keep the Twins up by 1, at least.
In 2019, one of the things that made the Twins a great team was their resiliency and how they would respond to losing and getting scored on. We haven’t seen as much of that so far this season but in the bottom of the 7th, Max Kepler led off with a single to center field. Jorge Polanco then struck out to bring up Nelson Cruz who speaks softly and carries a big stick and he used that big BoomStick to hit his 9th HR of the season over the right center field wall to double the Twins runs from 2 to 4. Rosie then grounded out & Sano struck out. 4-1 Twins
RHP Sergio Romo came in to pitch the 8th for the Twins. He got pinch-hitter, Omar Narvaez, & Brock Holt to ground out for the 1st two outs then allowed a single to Arcia but got Garcia to fly out to end the top of the 8th.
Brewers RHP Angel Perdomo came in to pitch the 8th. He struck out Cave but walked Adrianza. Vargas reached on an error by 3B Eric Sogard and Ryan Jeffers was hit by a payoff pitch to load the bases. Kepler then walked to score Adrianza and Jorge Polanco hit a double over 1st base to make it 7-1. Cruz was walked but Rosario & Sano struck out to end the 8th. 7-1 Twins
RHP Zack Littell was brought in to finish it off with a 6-run lead. Taylor Rogers was warming up in the bottom of the 8th as it was a save situation so Rocco was ready to go back to his lefty closer. Littell allowed back-to-back singles but then got a 4-6-3 double play to empty the bases and got Ryan Braun to line out to right to end the game!
That’s a nice win by these Minnesota Twins and it’s huge to see Jose Berrios look like Jose Berrios again. We’ll see if he can keep it going in his next start next week but the Twins had to get on a plane to head to Kansas City for a 3-game series to begin a 10-game road trip where they’ll see Cleveland again for 3 games and the Detroit Tigers for the first time this season.
RHP Jake Odorizzi (0-0, 5.14 ERA) will take the mound for his 3rd start of the season and it’s also his 3rd start of the season against the Kansas City Royals. How weird is that after only 26 games?
The Royals counter with LHP Danny Duffy (1-2, 4.44 ERA) on the mound & this is his 3rd start against Minnesota as well.
This 3-game series will be it for the 2020 regular season for these two teams.
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