Article: MIN 2, CLE 1: Berrios Stars, LaMarre Plays Hero as Twins Survive 16-Inning Duel

[Tom Froemming]

We know Jose Berrios can pass any physical test you put in front of him, but Wednesday night he passed an emotional test with flying colors. Berrios was in control and fellow Puerto Rico native Eddie Rosario scored the game-winning run in the 16th inning on a walk-off hit by Ryan LaMarre.Snapshot (chart via FanGraphs)Download attachment: Snapshot418.png Download attachment: WinEx418.png

 

That’s right, the Sire of Fort Myers became the Hero of Puerto Rico tonight. LaMarre came off the bench and delivered three hits, including the game winner.

But, several hours earlier, Jose Berrios made quite an impression on his home island.

 

There was no telling how Berrios was going to handle pitching at home in Puerto Rico, but he was every bit as good as anyone could have expected. The only thing he couldn’t do is score some runs for the Twins.

 

Berrios threw seven scoreless innings, holding Cleveland to just three hits, all of which came in the first two innings. He had retired 16-straight batters at the time he was taken out and only threw 84 pitches.

 

I know. It’s dangerous to leave a starter in too long, “third time through the order penalty” and yada, yada, yada. Those are things you don’t worry about when you have an ace. I don’t know if it’s appropriate to say that’s who Berrios is, but it’s sure who he’s been so far this season. He exited the ballgame with a 1.63 ERA and has 29 strikeouts against just one walk.

Sad to say it, but in the end it didn’t really matter if Jose Berrios threw seven or 17 innings tonight. The Twins offense just couldn’t get anything going.

 

To their credit, the bullpen did a great job. Addison Reed, Fernando Rodney and Zach Duke each pitched a scoreless inning. Ryan Pressly shutout Cleveland over a pair of innings and Taylor Rogers recorded four outs.

 

Cleveland got a man into scoring position in the eighth, ninth and 10th innings but could not score. They got a leadoff single in the 11th, but that was quickly erased by a double play. They got a runner to second with no outs in the 12th. Each opportunity was stomped out.

 

Edwin Encarnacion blasted a homer off Trevor Hildenberger in the 14th inning, but Miguel Sano was ready with a counter punch:

 

Alan Busenitz managed to keep Cleveland off the board for two more innings, giving the bats another opportunity to strike. Rosario led off the 16th with a single, Logan Morrison delivered a base hit of his own and Eduardo Escobar was intentionally walked. That brought up LaMarre, who had one career RBI prior to collecting his first walk-off hit.

 

Byron Buxton, who sat last night due to migraines, was placed on the 10-day DL earlier today and Max Kepler left the game in the 10th inning with a sore right knee. Rosario was looked over by the training staff after his single in the 16th inning, but appeared to be fine as he advanced from first to third on Morrison’s single.

 

Bullpen Usage

Here’s a quick look at the number of pitches thrown by the bullpen over the past five days:

Download attachment: Bullpen418.png

Next Three Games

Fri at TB, 6:10 pm CT

Sat at TB 5:10 pm CT

Sun at TB 12:10 pm CT

 

Last Three Games

CLE 6, MIN 1: Kluber, Lindor Outshine Twins in Puerto Rico

MIN 4, CHW 0: Mauer Reaches 2,000 Hits, Leads Twins to Victory

MIN 9, HOU 8: Max to the Rescue!

 

More From Twins Daily

Twins Minor League Report (4/18): Wiel, Gordon Stay Hot as Lookouts Sweep Doubleheader

 

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[FattCrapps]

Just got back from watching this at a bar in Santurce.  JJ Barea and Mark Cuban walked by around the 15th inning.  

[kab21]

What a great game. Lucky fans in Puerto Rico.

How long until we say that Berrios is becoming something special? He obviously isn't this good but is a true #2 at minimum?

[KirbyDome89]

LaMarre: Still hitting

Morrison: Still not hitting

[beckmt]

Great game, stayed up until the end.  

[Post-Concussive Blues]

Berrios and bullpen looking good!

[bighat]

 

LaMarre: Still hitting

Morrison: Still not hitting

 

LaMarre's gotta get more playing time. All he does is play well when given the opportunity.

 

Morrison looks fat, out of shape, and completely lost.  I hope the Twins are trying to work out a trade to see if anyone will take him off their hands.  Otherwise just DFA the guy.

[rdehring]

Thought Morrison hit a couple hard balls.  Recall one, don't recall the inning, that was a hard line drive to center.  Could just as easily been a double as an out.  Anyway, hitting a couple hard is a start!

 

And IMO, Berrios is an ACE.  Expect most will agree come the end of 2018.

 

Could our entire outfield be on the DL in the next couple days?  I assume Buxton's DL stint was back dated to last week Friday.  So he should be able to come off after the TB series.

[twinssouth]

Watched the game, Berrios was lights out. Bats are really cold. Carrasco was good but still. Last nights line up doesn't really put any fear in anyone. Morrison missing by a foot, Sanos strike outs. Probably a good thing game went extra innings. They all need at bats. Maybe not playing in 4 days is the reason. BUT, our pitching was lights out

[twinssouth]

Best part we split the series with Div Champs

[Han Joelo]

I'm still adjusting to having a winners mentality.  When Hildy came back out (after some confusion?) I thought, "Oh, this is it.  Bummer."  Wrong was I.  This is fun.  Expecting to win is a lot better than hoping to.

[gunnarthor]

I missed the game. Why was Berrios pulled with only 84 pitches?

[Blake]

 

Great game, stayed up until the end.  

Really so did I!

 

we'll ignore the minor fact I live in CA.

[bighat]

 

I missed the game. Why was Berrios pulled with only 84 pitches?

The video interview with him above provides some insight.

 

1. Emotional day, emotional series for Berrios, manager pulled him to take pressure off.

2. Lots of bullpen guys needed work: many hadn't pitched in a week.

3. Berrios said Molitor mentioned this before the game, seemed cool with it.

 

[gil4]

 

Great game, stayed up until the end.  

I went to bed after 15. I think that won it for us.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Watching the game after listening last night.

 

Man, I *really* dislike Molitor’s decision to remove Berrios.

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Thought Morrison hit a couple hard balls.  Recall one, don't recall the inning, that was a hard line drive to center.  Could just as easily been a double as an out.  Anyway, hitting a couple hard is a start!

 

And IMO, Berrios is an ACE.  Expect most will agree come the end of 2018.

 

Could our entire outfield be on the DL in the next couple days?  I assume Buxton's DL stint was back dated to last week Friday.  So he should be able to come off after the TB series.

Might have to ask Keith Law some questions on Berrios during his next chat...

[mikelink45]

So many take aways or at least talkers from last nights game.  Berrios deserves the ACE tag.  He had been great and maybe a game like that will start to get national attention for him.  Hildenberger on the other hand was not great - again.  I think he needs some AAA time.  I was really hoping like so many that he would be a bullpen stud, but maybe he burned out last year and needs to go down and get a reset.

 

Busenitz should be in the pen to stay. 

 

Morrison is reminding me of Kendrys Morales who came to us and stunk.  With Morrison and Grossman in the lineup together we are throwing away 22% of our lineup.  We cannot afford that.  LaMarre has been a marvel.  He might not last, but we should play him until his star fades.  

 

I thought we needed to wait for 50 ABs, but at 44 ABS he could get six straight hits and still only be at a 180 average.  Something is very wrong and keeping him in one of the middle of the lineup locations is not helping this team.

 

We have five batters hitting under 200 this has to be corrected. 

[Tom Froemming]

 

Best part we split the series with Div Champs

Now that the dust has settled a little bit on this one, yes, that is definitely a big takeaway. Flip the perspective and just think how Cleveland must feel today. They had to endure a 16-inning game AND lost.

 

All the frustration from the Twins in not being able to scratch across more runs is somewhat lifted by the fact they still won. Yes, it's just one game, and that Cleveland team and manager are a bunch of pros, but this is the kind of loss that you could see potentially having a carryover effect. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

[Monkeypaws]

Glad to see the Twins turn the tables on what ESPN wanted to make the Francisco Lindor show, especially with Berrios and Rosario playing key roles.

 

Apart from the fake grass, I really like Hiram Bithorn Stadium. Looks cool from the field level.

[slash129]

 

I went to bed after 15. I think that won it for us.

 

Butterfly effect, way to go!!

[ThejacKmp]

 

He obviously isn't this good but is a true #2 at minimum?

 

Why do you say he obviously isn't this good? He's got great stuff, a great motor and he's young enough to be taking a step. I'm not saying he will stay this good but Berrios always had ace ceiling. He just might be reaching it.

[howieramone2]

 

LaMarre's gotta get more playing time. All he does is play well when given the opportunity.

 

Morrison looks fat, out of shape, and completely lost.  I hope the Twins are trying to work out a trade to see if anyone will take him off their hands.  Otherwise just DFA the guy.

You don't DFA a player with trade value. We heard the same nonsense about Gibson and Pelfrey.

[ThejacKmp]

 

LaMarre's gotta get more playing time. All he does is play well when given the opportunity.

 

Morrison looks fat, out of shape, and completely lost.  I hope the Twins are trying to work out a trade to see if anyone will take him off their hands.  Otherwise just DFA the guy.

 

Ryan LaMarre has a 1.000 BABIP that will not stand. Part of that is that he has struck out 5 of his 12 at bats. And he has no extra-base hits. If he had a normal BABIP we'd be calling for him to be cut. He's a nice story but he's not someone who deserves a role any bigger than the one he currently has.

 

Morrison doesn't look good but trying to trade him or DFA him is ridiculous. You couldn't sell any lower. He's only 30 so it's unlikely he's dropped off a cliff. He's got a career 109 OPS+ so he's got a track record of success. He's just in a big slump.

 

I'd like to see the Twins give him the Tampa series (revenge games sometimes shake a guy out of a rut) and, if that doesn't work, sit him for the Yankees series to give him a breather and get out of his head. Logan Morrison will be fine long-term. We just have to be patient. 

 

Robbie Grossman I'm more worried about. 2016 looks more and more like an outlier the further we go into this season. It's looking like the Twins should be thinking about upgrading their 4th OF at the deadline.

[gunnarthor]

I think Morrison will be ok eventually but maybe not. There are flags. But I think it's probably too early to give up on him but I think he should be moved down in the order. It doesn't help that we don't really have an obvious replacement for him, either.  I've never been a big Vargas fan and he's putting up bad numbers again at AAA. Grossman isn't hitting either.

[kab21]

 

Why do you say he obviously isn't this good? He's got great stuff, a great motor and he's young enough to be taking a step. I'm not saying he will stay this good but Berrios always had ace ceiling. He just might be reaching it.

1.63 ERA - 29 K - 1 BB - 27.2 IP - OppBA .155

He isn't this good. Nobody is this good. These are like Pedro Martinez peak numbers.

But I think we can start the conversation that he is a #2 at minimum (with upside for more). Exactly what the Twins have been looking for.

[Richard Karn's Beard]

 

"LaMarre's gotta get more playing time. All he does is play well when given the opportunity."

 

I agree.  He has the "want to" and is following it up with the "can do".  He looks prepared at the plate and should be rewarded with playing time in place of those who look absolutely lost.  I realize this is a small sample size and reality may rear it's ugly head eventually but the guy is obviously well prepared, knows his scouting reports, and has a ton of heart.  I love this type of stuff. 

 

Ryan LaMarre?  More like the second coming of Lew Ford!

[USNMCPO]

 

Ryan LaMarre has a 1.000 BABIP that will not stand. Part of that is that he has struck out 5 of his 12 at bats. And he has no extra-base hits. If he had a normal BABIP we'd be calling for him to be cut. He's a nice story but he's not someone who deserves a role any bigger than the one he currently has.

 

Morrison doesn't look good but trying to trade him or DFA him is ridiculous. You couldn't sell any lower. He's only 30 so it's unlikely he's dropped off a cliff. He's got a career 109 OPS+ so he's got a track record of success. He's just in a big slump.

 

I'd like to see the Twins give him the Tampa series (revenge games sometimes shake a guy out of a rut) and, if that doesn't work, sit him for the Yankees series to give him a breather and get out of his head. Logan Morrison will be fine long-term. We just have to be patient. 

 

Robbie Grossman I'm more worried about. 2016 looks more and more like an outlier the further we go into this season. It's looking like the Twins should be thinking about upgrading their 4th OF at the deadline.

I agree with your take on Grossman. That said, who do you think the Twins should replace him with?

[ashbury]

I went to bed after 15. I think that won it for us.

You and me both. Hope no one spotted us leaving together.

[Jerr]

 

1.63 ERA - 29 K - 1 BB - 27.2 IP - OppBA .155

He isn't this good. Nobody is this good. These are like Pedro Martinez peak numbers.

But I think we can start the conversation that he is a #2 at minimum (with upside for more). Exactly what the Twins have been looking for.

Well, right now, he IS this good! Enjoy it!