'Having fun out there': Berríos sets tone

MINNEAPOLIS -- Following his four inning-ending strikeouts on Saturday night, José Berríos skipped back to the dugout with a spring in his step. But when he finished the seventh inning on his 99th pitch of the night, there was only a solemn punch of his glove as he strode slowly to the steps following a job well done.

The right-hander lost his shutout in the seventh on back-to-back homers after he stifled the Astros’ potent offense through the first six innings, but he finished out his start by quickly righting the ship -- as did the Twins, who rode Berríos’ performance and Jorge Polanco’s three hits, three RBIs and two-run homer to a 5-2 win over the Astros at Target Field on Saturday.

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“We beat a really good team and a good lineup because of his effort,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “It started with the pitching tonight, and it started with José. He did a great job.”

If Minnesota can’t put together an extended winning streak in a real hurry, Berríos could be its most intriguing trade candidate this summer as a starting pitcher with ace upside and a proven track record of success. He showed off that upside on national television, for the baseball world to see, twirling his 24th consecutive regular-season start with four or fewer runs allowed.

Through six innings, Berríos allowed only three singles to a Houston lineup that entered the evening with the highest WAR (14.2), wRC+ (121) and slugging percentage (.439) in baseball. The only time he allowed multiple baserunners in an inning was in the second, when he gave up two-out singles to Robel García and Chas McCormick, but he froze Martín Maldonado with a sinker to quell the rally.

Otherwise, he wasn’t getting too many swings-and-misses -- in fact, five of his eight strikeouts came looking -- but he benefited from plenty of contact on the ground.

“That’s one of the best lineups in baseball,” Baldelli said. “He attacked them. He got them out in the zone. You have to because they kind of force you to do that. You might get them to expand a little bit here and there, but you’re going to have to beat them in the zone, and he did that.”

Berríos completed seven innings for the third time this season. All other Twins starters have combined for three such outings.

He did have to work a little harder in that seventh, though. Berríos ran out to the mound to start the frame at 91 pitches, with the Astros having worked deep counts in the preceding frames. Despite Berríos’ rising pitch count, Houston got more aggressive, with Kyle Tucker lifting a first-pitch changeup into the bullpen in left-center, followed by a second-pitch swing from García that also left the park.

Berríos has had innings spiral out of control in otherwise effective starts -- and when pitching coach Wes Johnson came out to settle the right-hander, his message was simple.

“Just keep attacking hitters,” recounted rookie catcher Ben Rortvedt, who doubled home a run and added a sacrifice bunt. “We had a good thing going all game, just staying aggressive, being able to pitch inside. Just not shying away from what we were doing.”

No need to shy away from that when it had been so good for most of the night -- since Berríos had been spotting so well that he carved up a dangerous lineup while only inducing six swinging strikes, matching his fewest of the season. He induced two more groundouts from McCormick and Maldonado to walk away triumphant.

“We were rolling,” Rortvedt said. “It was a lot of fun. I don’t think I got shook off a lot. He had a lot of confidence in me, and I love that. He threw everything with conviction.”

And if all that skipping off the mound was any indication, the normally intense Berríos was having a mighty good time with all this dominance, too.

"I do that just to enjoy my game,” Berríos said. “I do that naturally. … Just enjoying my game and having fun out there."

“I think when you're that focused, you're that locked in, you're executing the way that he is, you can go out there and show some emotion,” Baldelli said. “I think it's organic. I think it comes from the heart with him. I think they're big moments in the game. That means something to him. And that's when he shows it.”