Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Wednesday, May 31, 2017 Jose Berrios struggles for Twins, lasts just five innings in 7-2 loss to Houston. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 1 Reusse: Falvey, Twins need to stay committed to winning and not quick fixes. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 2 Perkins throws to live hitters; Sano scratched from Twins lineup due to illness. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 4 Byron Buxton starts for Twins despite lacerated finger. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 4 MLB mock drafts: Twins will pass on fame, versatility with No. 1 pick. Star Tribune (Gonzalez) p. 5 Tony-O puts Altuve in AL's top two, and the other one is injured. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 6 Twins unsure if third baseman Miguel Sano will play Wednesday. Star Tribune (Neal) p. 7 Bullpen decisions remain most mysterious made by Falvey regime. Star Tribune (Reusse) p. 7 Twins' relievers left few options. Star Tribune (Souhan) p. 8 Murphy: Berrios isn’t the Twins’ stopper. Not yet, anyway. Pioneer Press (Murphy) p. 9 Jason Castro making expected defensive impact for Twins. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 10 Glen Perkins set for next phase of rehab in Florida after facing hitters. Pioneer Press (Berardino) p. 11 Santiago out to slow Astros in series finale. MLB (Jackson) p. 13 A rare lapse in command costs Berrios. MLB (Bollinger) p. 13 Twins can't sustain fast start vs. Astros. MLB (McTaggart & Jackson) p. 14 Perkins clears hurdle with throwing session. MLB (Bollinger) p. 15 ESPN’s Keith Law tabs Kyle Wright as the presumed Twins’ top draft pick. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 16 Miguel Sano a late scratch from the lineup because of illness. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 16 Twins will miss Mike Trout in upcoming Angels series. ESPN 1500 (Wetmore) p. 17 Twins’ bats go quiet in loss to league-leading Astros. Associated Press p. 17 StaTuesday: Mauer’s multitude of multi-hit games. FOX Sports North (Bierberger) p. 18 Twins Notes: Hughes, Perkins. MLB Trade Rumors (Todd) p. 19 Jose Berrios struggles for Twins, lasts just five innings in 7-2 loss to Houston La Velle E. Neal III | Star Tribune | May 31, 2017 Twins manager Paul Molitor winced at the thought of Jose Berrios needing to be a stopper on Tuesday. “The guy just turned 23, and we hope he can round out a rotation and give us an opportunity to win,” Molitor said. “I’m not going to put ‘stopper’ along with Jose’s name at this juncture.” But the Twins needed to be picked up after bullpen meltdowns the past two games. Berrios dazzled in his first three outings; why couldn’t he do it a fourth time? It was too much to ask for, as the Twins fell 7-2 to Houston for their third consecutive defeat. Berrios had his worst outing by far since arriving from Class AAA Rochester, needing 104 pitches to get through five innings. “It’s tough with a lineup like that,” Berrios said, “but I never lose my confidence with my pitches. I try to compete, one bad night. Get ready for the next one.” The warning signs popped up in the third inning as Berrios began to hand back a 2-0 lead. Berrios hit Marwin Gonzalez with a pitch, gave up a double down the left field line to Yuli Gurriel, then a sacrifice fly to Alex Bregman. Houston then loaded the bases against Berrios in the fourth, getting a run home when Brian McCann hit into a double play. The score was tied 2-2. Berrios did limit the damage to one run, but he entered the fifth inning having thrown 71 pitches. Berrios fell behind the first four batters he faced in the fifth, as the Astros loaded the bases, again, with one out. Berrios could not find the magic pitch this time. Actually, third baseman Ehire Adrianza needed a magic glove, as Jose Altuve ripped a two-run single by him to give Houston a 4-2 lead. Altuve was given a hit, but Adrianza could have made the play. “We had a chance to get off the field even instead of down there,” Molitor said. The loss dropped the Twins' lead in the American League Central, which was three games on Sunday, to two percentage points over Cleveland. In five innings, Berrios gave up four runs on five hits and four walks with five strikeouts. After throwing 65.9 percent of his pitches for strikes over his first three outings, he threw strikes only 60.6 percent of the time Tuesday. First-pitch strikes really told the tale: Berrios got ahead in the count with only 11 of the 23 batters he faced, or 48 percent. But Molitor has seen Berrios pitch worse, much worse, during his baptism season last year. And he reminded him of that. “I told him I was proud of him,” Molitor said. “A lot of times, when he hasn’t had his command in the past, it’s kind of been explosive. And I thought he contained pretty well tonight.” The Twins offense was unable to bail out Berrios despite facing Houston righthander Mike Fiers, who entered the game having given up a league-high 18 home runs. The Twins scored twice in the first, on a bases-loaded walk to Eddie Rosario and a Byron Buxton infield single, but then Fiers took control, retiring the next eight batters and lasting six innings. Altuve led the Astros by going 4-for-5 with two RBI. Bregman added a solo homer in the seventh, and Houston tacked on two more runs in the ninth. “They don’t have a lot of power but they hit with men on base,” Berrios said. “I walked a couple guys, that’s my damage.” Reusse: Falvey, Twins need to stay committed to winning and not quick fixes Patrick Reusse | Star Tribune | May 31, 2017 The Twins had an impressive series in Baltimore last week, sweeping the Orioles with three different types of victories: a 14-7 comeback, a 2-0 masterpiece from Ervin Santana and a 4-3 contest of will. The Twins returned to Target Field and, after splitting the first two games of a series with Tampa Bay, they were 26-19 and leading the American League Central over Cleveland by three games. This was a club coming off the worst season in franchise history at 59-103 in 2016. It was obvious in March that the Twins’ fan base had crossed over from disgust to disinterest. There was so much apathy that articles posted at startribune.com could sit for days without so much as a single Joe Mauer cheap shot among a piddling number of comments. This was supposed to be the spring of the Wild, and then Bruce Boudreau’s lads determinedly kept hitting St. Louis goalie Jake Allen with the puck and lasted only five games — from April 12 to April 22. This left a little air surrounding the sporting public for the Twins to breathe, and the respectable play of the early weeks of the season caused at least mild curiosity. Then came the sweep in Baltimore, and the baseball naive came storming to the fore. Were the Twins maneuvering into position to be “buyers” rather than “sellers” on the trade market? Would it be advisable to include No. 1 prospect and shortstop Nick Gordon with the young talent needed to acquire starter Gerrit Cole from Pittsburgh? Talk about premature nonsense. The Twins were 26-21 after the back-to-back abominations: blowing a lead and losing the longest home game (by time) in Twins history Sunday and giving up the largest number of bullpen runs (14) in Twins history Monday. 2 The Twins lost again Tuesday night, 7-2 to Houston, in game No. 48. That is 30 percent of a baseball schedule. It is a mere hint as to how a season will turn out, especially with a team that has played above the level of its talent. The Twins were five games over and the Cubs were an even .500 after Memorial Day games. You think there’s any long-term reality in that scenario? What the Cubs have indicated is that it might not be as easy as last season, but they remain likely to win 90 games. What the Twins have shown is they are unlikely to lose 90 or more, which occurred in five of the previous six seasons. Gordon and more to acquire Cole, so you might be able to finish eight games behind Cleveland in the Central rather than 15? That would be genius. Let’s remember last fall: The Twins didn’t flat out say it, but they told us when firing Terry Ryan and bringing in a 30-years-younger boss in Derek Falvey that this was a start over from 59-103 — an excavation project, not a remodeling. Thirty percent of the schedule doesn’t change that. First place on Memorial Day doesn’t change that, not with the Indians about to start winning. Jason Kipnis back, Michael Brantley back, Edwin Encarnacion’s power bat ready to join the party … and you don’t think Cleveland is going to win 90? Maybe not. Maybe bad things will happen to Cleveland. For sure, the Twins have to wait to the middle of July to make any bold moves to improve the long odds for 2017 while risking damage to their long-term prospects. Yes, but the Twins “owe the fans” something after this horrible stretch of seasons. That’s the cliché we hear from the baseball naive.