Jose Berrios Tosses Complete Game Gem as Twins Tread Injury-Ridden Water
Coming off of back-to-back losses to the AL Central bottom-feeding White Sox, the Minnesota Twins had Mr. José Orlando Berríos take the mound for Thursday afternoon’s series finale.
Only a mere 2 hours and 14 minutes after Berríos threw the game’s first pitch, the Puerto Rico native put a proverbial bow on Minnesota’s nerve calming victory:
José Berríos (@Twins) throws his 2nd career complete game in a 7-2 win over the White Sox.
Berrios improves to 6-1 with a 2.28 ERA in his career against the White Sox, including 3-0 this season. pic.twitter.com/UMPhmyfLk6
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 7, 2018
Less than two months ago, Berríos finished a marvelous 7.0 inning showing vs the same division foe with 11 Ks and 0 BBs. During Thursday’s “Cradle to the Grave” performance, the third-year big leaguer fanned 10 without, once again, rendering a single walk (109 pitches, 6 hits allowed).
Bada bing, bada boom. Just like that, the talented RHP is flirting with an extremely familiar LHP from recent Twins’ history:
Today was Jose Berrios’ second start of the season with 0 walks and 10+ strikeouts.
The only pitcher in Twins history with more than two such starts in a season is Johan Santana, who did it three times in both 2004 and 2005.
There have only been 45 such starts in Twins history.
— Aaron Gleeman (@AaronGleeman) June 7, 2018
José Berríos 2018 Stats: 7-5 W/L, 3.66 ERA, 74.2 IP, 84 SO, 0.92 WHIP
The win, which included HRs from Ehire Adrianza (2), and the on-fire duo of Eduardo Escobar (12), and Eddie Rosario (14), moved the Twins’ overall record to 27-32. With Cleveland taking the day off (lazy), Minnesota will officially enter the weekend 4.5 games back of the division leader.
While the below .500 W/L isn’t meeting preseason expectations, considering the Twins’ aggressive issues surrounding health, shit could be a lot worse. Hopefully, for the years remaining 100+ contests, the injury bug isn’t so attracted to Paul Molitor’s squad.
In the interim, before Target Field welcomes Mike Trout and the Angles for the weekend’s three game set, here’s an update on a Mount Rushmore’s worth of recovery processes:
Good report for Ervin on visit to Melone. Could resume throwing Thursday
— Mike Berardino (@MikeBerardino) June 5, 2018
According to additional reports, Santana “will still need to complete a full ramp-up before he returns to the majors, but it seems promising that his earlier setback has only required a brief respite.”
Twins mulling rehab assignment for Joe Mauer https://t.co/4Ew1Yt9IjH pic.twitter.com/9tF82x6wIy
— Pioneer Press (@PioneerPress) June 7, 2018
Per Phil Miller of the Star Tribune, the centerfielder’s “pain reduction” in his toe “has been slow.” There has only been “moderate progress towards his return.”
Tommy John rehab complete, #MNTwins send Trevor May to Triple-A Rochester. https://t.co/hUfA0zgGOg pic.twitter.com/re3V5S8zUC
— Star Tribune Sports (@StribSports) June 7, 2018
The All-Star game is a little over a month away. As you can see by this 2015 gem, May’s reinstatement comes at an appropriate time:
Johnny Minnesota (@TheJohnnyMN)
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