Twins postgame thoughts from LEN3: Berrios, Molitor, Chargois

BERRIOS' THIRD START: The talent is there. As I wrote for the first edition, Jose Berrios has the hard fastball, sweeping curveball and unbalancing changeup to win on this level. Just as important, Berrios seems to have the determination to learn how to use all his tools. Tuesday was another day for him to tantalize - and learn. Berrios gave up three runs over five innings on eight hits and a walk while striking out six. Manny Machado and Adam Jones hit back-to-back home runs off him in the fifth. His changeup to Machado wasn't bad, but Machado is on everything these days. The curveball to Jones and was hung and deserved to visit the second deck. In three starts, Berrios is 1-1 but has a 6.28 ERA. In 141/3 innings, he has struck out 19 batters. But he has yet to pitch longer than 51/3 innings in any of his three outings because of his pitch count. For one, he has to put away hitters better. Orioles batters fouled off 17 pitches on Tuesday. His stuff is there, he just needs to fine tune his control to get his strikeouts on fewer pitches.

NEW LINEUP: Twins manager Paul Molitor finally had his chance on Tuesday - after Monday's game was rained out - to show off his new lineup with Joe Mauer batting leadoff. Brian Dozier was moved down to Mauer's old No. 3 slot, as Molitor looked for a sustained offense. ``Paul has been talking about it for awhile," Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said before the game. ``Put Joe up to the front and let's see what happens." Well, the lineup scored three runs on Tuesday. I have no problems trying Mauer at the top of the order, given the state of the offense. I was a little surprised that Miguel Sano was fifth, followed by Byung Ho Park. I just think Sano could be closer to Mauer. He's going to strike out. But he's going to get his walks and he leads the majors in line drive percentage. The OBP guys should not be that far apart, and Sano is second to Mauer in walks on the team. But Molitor said after the game that he batted Dozier third and Plouffe fourth because of their experience. Well, Plouffe had a hand in all three runs on Tuesday. The problem: The Twins were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

J.T. CHARGOIS IS NOT FAR AWAY NOW: Righthander J.T. Chargois, one of the "flock" of righthanded relief prospects Terry Ryan spoke highly of during spring training, has been promoted to Class AAA Rochester. Chargois made is debut on Tuesday - in relief of Tommy Milone. He threw a wild pitch then gave up a double that allowed two inherited runners to score. But he settled down to get the final out of the inning. He got the first out of the seventh but uncorked a wild pitch while striking out the next batter, who was safe at first. An eventful first outing, it appears. Chargois has touched 100 with his fastball in the past and has a good breaking ball. He should be on speed dial once he settles down and has a good few outings for the Red Wings. Byron Buxton had two hits Tuesday, by the way, and is batting .299.