Lookouts' Berrios sharp in season debut

Different year, different league, same results for Jose Berrios.

The Twins' No. 4 prospect recorded 11 strikeouts while giving up one run on six hits over 6 1/3 innings Friday night as Double-A Chattanooga beat Montgomery, 6-2.

Berrios (1-0) took a shutout into the sixth before surrendering a two-out solo homer to Richie Shaffer. The 20-year-old right-hander recorded a strikeout in all but one inning he worked, surpassing his Double-A best of five strikeouts in the fourth. He issued one walk.

"My fastball command, my changeup, curveball, everything was good," said Berrios, who threw 63 of 89 pitches for strikes. "Sometimes I used the two-seam fastball. [I threw] a lot of strikes tonight, it helped me to get the win."

It was Berrios' highest strikeout total since June 1, when he fanned a career-high 13 in a seven-inning one-hitter for Class A Advanced Fort Myers. The Puerto Rico native said that while his entire repertoire helped him in his first Southern League start, his breaking pitches produced the high strikeout total.

"I needed every pitch -- fastball, curveball, changeup," MLB.com's No. 33 overall prospect said. "For strikeouts, I used the changeup and curveball."

Something new for Berrios this year is the two-seam fastball, a pitch that proved useful against the Biscuits.

"That helped me a lot tonight," he said. "I used it against righties and sometimes to lefties, outside for a ground ball. That helped me a lot. I think if I keep using that pitch, that will be a top pitch for me."

After an eight-start stint in the Double-A Eastern League last year with a promotion to Triple-A at the end of the summer, Berrios may be closer to his big league dream than ever. Still, for the moment he's focused on helping the Lookouts win.

"For now, keep doing my work, help my team to get the win every night when I pitch," he said. "Stay healthy, keep working hard and wait for the callup to the big leagues. That's my goal for the year."

Jorge Polanco broke a scoreless tie with a grand slam in the fifth, a home run that made Berrios "more relaxed." Polanco, the Twins' seventh-ranked prospect, finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and fell a triple short of the cycle. Dalton Hicks also had three hits, including an RBI double, while Byron Buxton -- MLB.com's top overall prospect -- scored a run.

Shaffer, the Rays' No. 22 prospect, had three hits and scored twice.