Postgame: Berrios passes first difficult test; DP helps Kintzler convert

BALTIMORE — Three more extras from the Twins' sweep-clinching victory at Camden Yards:

Unlike his first two dominating starts, Jose Berrios got into some trouble against the Orioles on Wednesday. That's not a bad thing, either, because the Twins want to see how he responds.

So far, so good. Berrios gave up a one-out single to Manny Machado in the fourth inning, then walked Mark Trumbo and Trey Mancini (with a Chris Davis popup in between) to load the bases. Pitching coach Neil Allen walked to the mound to confer with the 22-year-old starter.

"You can tell he gets a little bit sped up and tries to throw a little bit harder. Maybe gets too fine," Molitor said of the pep talk. "You try to get him just to go back and be free and easy and just make pitches."

"Neil said to trust myself, trust my stuff. And throw the ball inside," Berrios said. "That's what I did."

Berrios put the advice into action against Jonathan Schoop. He got ahead 1-2, then threw a curveball in the dirt that caused Schoop to flinch, and he was called out on the check swing. "He had a good matchup there, a good long at-bat and got him to chase," Molitor said of Berrios, whose ERA rose all the way to 1.66. "That was a big inning."

And a good test.

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With his 12th save on Wednesday, in 13 opportunities, Brandon Kintzler moved within one save of AL leader Cody Allen of Cleveland. It wasn't a clean inning, but it was close.

Mancini led off the ninth with a single to right field, putting the tying run on base. But just as the Camden Yards crowd of 32,267 came alive, Kintzler snuffed the threat. He got Schoop to hit a grounder up the middle, and though there was momentary confusion, it worked out for Minnesota.

"Kintzler put his glove up to get it, and then he moved it all of a sudden," said Brian Dozier. "It caught me a little off guard."

That's because Dozier recovered, snagged the ball one step from second base, kicked the bag and calmly tossed to first base.

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When Taylor Rogers fell behind 3-0 to Chris Davis in the eighth inning, having thrown nothing but curveballs out of the strike zone, he knew how to fix the problem: Just throw fastballs.

Not because he wanted to try something else, but because he believed they would get his curve back on track.

"I was lucky to get back in the count with two heaters. And [catcher Chris Gimenez] and I were on the same page the whole way — 3-2 curveball," Rogers explained. "It's kind of like when you're in the bullpen and you can't quite find the breaking ball, so you throw a fastball to try to find the release point again. I think it helped that I threw those two fastballs, got back on my release point, and was able to get [the 3-2 curve] in there."

Count Molitor as impressed.

No wonder, Molitor said, that Rogers pumped his fist in exuberance as umpire Lance Barrett signaled strike three.