Twins end homestand on a high note, with convincing victory over Milwaukee

Jose Berrios didn't realize he'd be throwing to a new catcher Thursday night until team interpreter Elvis Martinez pointed him out pregame.

But that unfamiliarity wasn't apparent from the way the two collaborated.

Berrios held Milwaukee scoreless for six innings, striking out a season-high nine batters with only one walk in the Twins' 7-1 victory at Target Field to take two of three games from the Brewers. It was only Berrios' second win in six starts.

And he only had to shake off new guy Ryan Jeffers three times.

"We're on the same page," Berrios said. "The energy I brought [Thursday], just give my 100 percent on every pitch, that worked. So I think that made it more easy for him to work behind the plate."

Jeffers, called up to replace an injured Mitch Garver, took some advice from Garver and Alex Avila on how to catch for Berrios. But other than that and studying the Brewers' hitters, Jeffers just tried to adjust to the flow of the game.

"His stuff was really crisp," Jeffers said of Berrios. "It's easy to call a game when a guy is throwing what you want and where you want it. And all of his stuff was working. You could tell by the [at-bats] the Brewers were taking that, really, he was keeping them off balance."

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said Berrios was "absolutely at the top of his game in pretty much every way," from his fastball to commanding both sides of the plate. That confidence must have spread to his catcher.

Jeffers, making his big league debut at 23, reached base three times on two singles and a hit by pitch. His first at-bat in the majors in the third inning drove in Ildemaro Vargas, who had tripled, with the game's first run. Jeffers handled it all like a seasoned pro.

"This is a very difficult at-bat in a big spot and game," Baldelli said. "His ability to kind of avoid distraction and just focus on what he can handle and stay relaxed. He has a lot of characteristics of what we'd just call … a baseball player. And that's what we say sometimes. Guys that are just able to innately do things that sometimes are difficult for others and come easy to him. He has that very easy way about him, but he's very perceptive. He's catching everything, literally and figuratively."

Baldelli added it was a "cool" moment for the whole team to see Jeffers get his first RBI. And it just might have inspired the convincing performance.

The Twins built on their lead in the sixth, loading the bases before Vargas' sacrifice fly scored Eddie Rosario for a 2-0 lead. The Brewers scored their only run the next inning on Justin Smoak's solo home run off reliever Tyler Duffey, who had just entered the game.

Going into the bottom of the seventh, the Twins had 11 hits but only two runs. But Nelson Cruz, as he often does, gave the Twins a boost, smashing a 395-foot, two-run homer off the first pitch he saw from Milwaukee's Freddy Peralta.

Ahead 4-1, the Twins loaded the bases in the eighth, and Brewers reliever Angel Perdomo walked in Ehire Adrianza before Jorge Polanco's double scored Vargas and Jeffers.

On Friday, the Twins will begin a 10-game road trip starting in Kansas City. And Jeffers, for one, will have plenty of memories from an eventful debut.

"Walking up to the plate for the first time and hearing your name called, going out there and having Jose throw the way he did, getting that first RBI," Jeffers said. "… I'm going to cherish all of them."