Twins’ core youngsters continue to struggle as Jose Berrios roughed up

12:20 AM ET

This is not the way it was supposed to go for the Minnesota Twins. This was going to be the year their next generation of stars laid the foundation for the next Twins’ playoff team: Miguel Sano would build upon his impressive rookie season, Byron Buxton would flash his tools in his first extended stay in the majors, and Jose Berrios would get the call and show signs of developing into the team’s best starter since Johan Santana was traded to the Mets.

Instead, the team lost its first nine games, played better for a spell, and then lost 12 of 13. That’s two terrible stretches of baseball already, and we’re still in mid-May. Berrios made his fourth start on Monday since his recall from Triple-A and managed to record only two outs, as he gave up a leadoff home run to Ian Kinsler and then walked four batters. Eventually all seven of the baserunners he allowed came around as the Tigers scored eight runs.

To the Twins’ credit, they fought back off Jordan Zimmermann to tie the game, only to see the Tigers win 10-8.

Berrios’ numbers through four starts indicate a guy who might have to head back to Triple-A: 15 innings pitched, 20 hits allowed, 5 home runs, 12 walks and a 10.20 ERA. Berrios’ 20 strikeouts indicates the quality of his stuff, but everything else indicates a lack of command. Of 280 pitchers with at least 15 innings, Berrios ranks 265th in percentages of pitches within the strike zone. This isn’t always a bad thing. For example, Dallas Keuchel made his living last season getting batters to chase pitches …

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