It was a wild four-game series with the Seattle Mariners.
A blowout loss, followed by a blowout win — the Twins scored 20 runs on 28 hits — followed by a disappointing outing from Ervin Santana. But the series ended well Thursday after pitcher Jose Berrios went eight innings and limited the M’s to two runs.
Berrios is a changed man after he struggled in his rookie year with the Twins. Thursday’s win now makes him 6-1 on the season with a 2.74 ERA. He gave up five hits with one walk and six strikeouts. He also has five quality starts this season, pitching at least six innings with three or fewer earned runs.
Berrios has worked well with catcher and noted pitch-framer, Jason Castro, but Berrios on Thursday was once again paired with backup catcher (and relief pitcher) Chis Gimenez and did just fine. It didn’t hurt, too, that Gimenez homered twice in the 6-2 win.
The Twins split the four-game series with the M’s, but still maintain a two-game lead over the second place Cleveland Indians. But now things are going to get interesting because the Tribe come to town Friday for a four-game series, including a doubleheader on Saturday. The Twins have a good chance to widen their lead in the American League Central.
Extra innings…
-The Twins are 34-29. This time last season they were 20-43.
-Tuesday’s 20-7 win over the M’s was one for the record books. The Twins set a franchise record with 28 hits in that game. Eddie Rosario had four hits, including three home runs; Eduardo Escobar had five hits; Castro and Kennys Vargas had four hits; Max Kepler had three hits; and Robbie Grossman, Jorge Polanco and Brian Dozier had two hits apiece. Hard to believe that 3-time batting champ Joe Mauer was held to a single.
-Kyle Gibson earned his fourth win of the season in that blowout victory, but didn’t pitch all that well. He gave up six runs on 12 hits in six innings, but when you’re backed by 28 hits, I guess it’s hard to lose.
-Nik Turley gets the ball on Friday.
Gimenez, talking about Cleveland on @Go963MN : "We're looking to punch the bully in the mouth."
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) June 15, 2017
Chris Gimenez on his first-career multi-HR game: “Not bad, right? Hopefully, I’m one of the better hitting pitchers in the league.”
— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) June 15, 2017