MINNEAPOLIS _ Things went bad for Jose Berrios from Pitch No. 1 on Tuesday.
The Twins' two-time All-Star, who hadn't allowed more than three earned runs in a start since mid-May, opened his first career start against the Braves with a fastball down the middle. It ricocheted off the limestone facing above the batter's eye in center field after being redirected by Ronald Acuna Jr. _ his sixth leadoff home run of the season _ and Berrios was on a road he hadn't traveled in a long time.
By the time he departed a couple of hours and 5 2/3 innings later, Berrios had given up nine runs, more than in any other start in his four-year career, and the Twins lost, 12-7, to the Braves.
The Twins got their usual allotment of tape-measure home runs, but they arrived too late to save Berrios. Nelson Cruz smacked a 429-foot shot off the upper-deck facing in the sixth inning, his 31st of the season, and Mitch Garver lofted a 399-foot rainbow down the left-field line later in the inning to score two more runs. Cruz added another long one in the seventh, giving the Twins 224 homers this season, only one away from their franchise record.
But those homers came after Atlanta took a shocking 11-0 lead against Berrios and reliever Cody Stashak.
Berrios had been particularly effective since the All-Star break, allowing no runs in two of his three most recent starts. But Acuna made that stat moot before the game was 30 seconds old, the first time since his rookie season that Berrios had allowed a home run to the first batter he faced.
Freddie Freeman quickly got in on the act, too. With two runners on base in the third inning, Freeman drove a curveball into the Braves' bullpen, the first three-run homer that Berrios had allowed since last September. It abruptly stopped Berrios' streak of 12 consecutive starts in which he had allowed three or fewer earned runs, the longest such streak by a Twin since Johan Santana's 22 in a row in 2004.
Two innings later, the Braves' speed cost Berrios another run, when Acuna singled, stole second and scored on Ozzie Albies' single to right. An inning later, an umpire's call seemed to rattle Berrios, and end his night.
With two runners on base and two outs, Berrios held the ball for an extended time. Suddenly, home plate umpire Vic Carapazza signaled for a balk, allowing Matt Joyce to jog home from third base and Ender Inciarte to move to second. Berrios, who hadn't balked since 2017, appeared disbelieving of the call, standing behind the mound to collect himself. Finally, he returned, and Acuna quickly singled Inciarte home. When Albies followed with a long fly ball that bounced off about two inches below the home-run line on the right-center wall, he turned it into a triple and Berrios' night was over.
Nine runs, nine hits and four walks for the Twins' ace, a startling setback for a pitcher who entered the game with a 2.80 ERA, third lowest in the American League. The long night ballooned that number to 3.24, dropping him to seventh in the AL.
