MINNEAPOLIS _ Jose Berrios lost a 10-pitch battle with Jake Lamb in the first inning on Saturday and ended up walking him.
Slugger Paul Goldschmidt dug in at the plate and proceeded to foul off pitch after pitch, as Berrios couldn't finish him off. Finally, Goldschmidt struck out on a foul trip, and Berrios pounded his fist into his glove as he walked off the mound.
It was a laborious 24-pitch inning for Berrios, but do you remember what's happened to him in the first inning of his previous two starts. Berrios sure hasn't. And when faced with pitching himself into another early pickle, he bowed his back and stopped it.
That started a run of scoreless innings and retired Diamondbacks hitters. Twins hitters rewarded Berrios with a five runs in the fourth inning. And Berrios remained on the attack and he powered into the late innings to help the Twins defeat Arizona, 5-0. The Twins have won 10 of their last 12 and shut out an opponent for the ninth time.
Twins hitters had their hands full with former AL Central nemesis Zack Greinke until they broke through for the big fourth inning, sending Greinke to the showers following his shortest outing of the season and shortest since Aug. 14, 2016.
The Twins have won the first two games of this series and now can, as manager Paul Molitor likes to say, get greedy. They have a chance to sweep the Diamondback in the three game series, which would be an appropriate response after dropping two of three games to Cleveland earlier in the week. And it would be a heck of a way to propel themselves into a five-game series in Chicago next week against a White Sox team that has traded away its best players to leave a very beatable roster. The Twins have not swept a three-game series since June 23-29 at Cleveland.
Berrios, 11-5, went seven innings, holding Arizona scoreless on two hits and a walk with seven strikeouts. After starting 7-1 with a 2.67 ERA, Berrios went 3-6, 6.20 since before Saturday's outing. That including giving up five first inning runs in each of his two previous outings. He vowed to be more aggressive
Pitching with two extra days of rest, Berrios had a sharper breaking ball that Diamondbacks hitters, for the most part, failed to square up all night.
While Berrios was tested in the first, Greinke threw 30 pitches in the first inning. Brian Dozier worked Grienke over for 16 pitches over his first two plate appearances. Greinke was Greinke, throwing 69 miles per hour breaking balls before trying to blast fastball by hitters, grunting as he released each pitch. But the Twins extended many at bats, which had a cumulative effect in the fourth inning. Daniel Descalso's glovework didn't help either.
With a runner on first, Descalso botched Eduardo Escobar's grounder for an error, missing a chance at a double play. One out later, Jorge Polanco singled to center, and Jason Castro drew a four-pitch walk to force in the first run of the game.
A second run scored on Brian Dozier's infield hit. Max Kepler drove in two runs with a single to right and Joe Mauer's single through the hole at short scored Dozier to make it 5-0.
Greinke was finished after four innings, during which he threw a whopping 96 pitches. It was Greinke's first game against the Twins since April 30, 2014, when he was with the Dodgers.
One drawback for the Twins occurred in the fourth when designated hitter Miguel Sano jogged lightly to first after hitting into an inning ending double play. He was later diagnosed with a sore lower left shin and was removed from the game. Sano is day-to-day. Mitch Garver batted for him in the seventh inning and struck out in his major league debut.
