Jose Berrios Picks Up Loss In MLB Debut

After going 2-0 with a sparkling 1.59 ERA over three starts for Triple-A Rochester, 21-year-old Minnesota Twins prospect Jose Berrios received his highly-anticipated MLB call-up. His task: stifling the bats of the Cleveland Indians on Wednesday evening.

While he got off to a nice start, the end result was disappointing, as he threw a very inefficient 93 pitches in just 4.0 innings while allowing five earned runs on six hits. He did avoid the bats, however, by recording five strikeouts, but also walked two hitters en route to the loss.

Before going over his performance, this was his first MLB strikeout… something Twins fans will be seeing a lot of in the years to come.

After blanking the Indians for both the first and second innings, Berrios found himself in a bit of trouble in the top of the third when he allowed a two RBI double to Cleveland’s top prospect shortstop Francisco Lindor. That closed the Twins’ lead to 3-2. He responded nicely to adversity, however, punching out Michael Brantley and then Mike Napoli to end the inning.

After retiring the next three hitters in order in the fourth, the young Puerto Rican dug himself into a hole in the fifth, giving up a leadoff single and then walking the next hitter before Jason Kipnis smoked a double off of him, tying up the score at 3-3 and leaving runners on second and third with no one out.

That’s when Fernando Abad entered the game in relief and Berrios’ night ended with unfinished business still in scoring position. Lindor and Brantley subsequently drove in the two runs that were tacked on to Berrios’ pitching line as earned runs, giving him five on the game.

Here’s what he had to say about his performance.

Overall, the right-handed talent did some things well (like rebounding out of adversity in the third inning and getting off to a nice start over the first two frames), but he will have to be much more efficient moving forward.

It’s hard to blame him for any jitters he may have had… he’s barely old enough to drink and he’s a Major League pitcher.

Luckily for him, his jersey number might bring him good fortune.

What’s great for the Twins and their fans is that their rookie will not likely have to be on a restrictive pitch count. Therefore, we will be seeing a lot of him this year and he will develop before our eyes.

The youngster’s next start is presumably on Tuesday, when the Twins travel to Minute Maid Park to take on the struggling Astros. We will see what he does in his follow-up performance.