MILWAUKEE – The crazy thing about pitching six, but only six, innings without allowing a hit is, the focus becomes more about what you didn't accomplish than what you did.
So it goes for Jose Berrios, who on Saturday pitched the best game of his All-Star career so far, dominating the Brewers with curveballs that fell off a cliff, fastballs that nipped every corner and changeups that sent hitters back to the dugout shaking their heads. Berrios earned the 2-0 victory, tied his career high with 12 strikeouts, gave up a half-dozen routine balls in play, and hit a batter with one of his 84 pitches — then departed, his manager decided, with a no-hitter intact but not complete.
And here's the bizarre part: Berrios' no-hit outing was only the second longest of the game.
Brewers righthander Corbin Burnes was as dominating as Berrios, at one point striking out six consecutive Twins, and he held the Twins hitless for 6 1/3 innings, one out longer than his Twins counterpart's. But after matching no-hit inning with no-hit inning, Burnes' fate was crueler than simply being lifted; Byron Buxton took care of that.
With his 87th and final pitch of the night, Burnes tried to sneak a 96-mph fastball past Buxton. It was lower and more delicious than he intended, and Buxton ended the no-hit threat by drilling it onto an overhang in center field. In doing so, Buxton became the first Twin since Shannon Stewart in 2006 to homer in both of the season's first two games.
Burnes was clearly angry with himself as he departed in favor of reliever Brent Suter, and the Twins took advantage an inning later by stringing together three consecutive two-out singles, the last by Luis Arraez to drive in Andrelton Simmons to give the twins a two-run cushion.
There's no way of knowing whether Berrios would have become the sixth Twins pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter, first since Francisco Liriano in 2011. Instead, he became the third Twin ever pulled after at least six no-hit innings, joining Kyle Gibson, who departed after six no-hit innings in Baltimore on March 31, 2018, and Kevin Slowey, who lasted seven no-hit innings against the A's at Target Field on Aug. 15, 2010.
Berrios' near-perfection continued his success against National League teams. In fact, NL hitters are batting .188 against the righthander over his career. Among pitchers who have faced at least 400 batters in interleague play (which began in 1997), only Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera has been stingier, allowing a .173 average.
Rogers replaced Berrios for the seventh, and struck out all three hitters he faced. Duffey had the eighth, and walked Lorenzo Cain with one out, then gave up a Milwaukee's first hit, a drive by catcher Omar Narvaez into the right-field corner that Max Kepler quickly recovered, holding Cain at third and Narvaez to a single. But Duffey recovered to strike out pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach looking, and force another pinch-hitter, Billy McKinney, to line out to Kepler.
Colome, who blew a three-run ninth-inning lead on Thursday, then quickly dispatched the Brewers in the ninth, though the game was delayed for five minutes when home plate umpire CB Buckner was hit in the throat by a foul ball. Once the game resumed, Colome induced a popup from Christian Yelich, to end the game and preserve the Twins' first one-hit victory since Ervin Santana's complete game over the White Sox on April 15, 2017.
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April 04, 2021 at 09:09AM
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Jose Berrios strikes out 12 Milwaukee batters in six no-hit innings, Twins win 2-0 - Minneapolis Star Tribune
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