\n\n\"Some are \\[still\\] on the IL, but the group we have right now, they play well, they play like a team. That's why we are playing well the last 10 games. We need to compete together and we're going to have great results at the end of the year.\"
It was just one of those outings for Berríos where everything was working. He spotted his two-seamer with heavy run. His signature curveball had sharp bite. Berríos' changeup was even better, as he spotted it to both corners.\n\n\"I knew during his pregame bullpen \\[session\\] that all his pitches were sharp,\" catcher
Berríos couldn't pinpoint that command as he struggled with walks for much of the early season, but he found a feel for his stuff over his previous three starts, escalating into Tuesday, when he baffled St. Louis hitters for eight strikeouts -- six swinging, two looking -- as he scattered four hits and two walks through the first five innings before he ran into trouble in the sixth.\n\nThat early mastery was evident in Berríos' second trip through the lineup, when he struck out six of the nine batters he faced. Tommy Edman fell to a changeup. Paul Goldschmidt swung through a strike-three sinker, and Brad Miller and Paul DeJong both toppled to curveballs as Berríos whiffed the Nos. 2-5 hitters in order. Later on, Harrison Bader whiffed on a curveball before Lane Thomas watched helplessly as another spinner grazed the bottom of the zone.
\n\n \n\n\"When you've got an inning like that, obviously, you had great stuff today,\" Berríos said. \"We executed great pitches, and they're just swinging. When they miss that pitch, that tells you that you're doing great work. I felt pretty good today.\"\n\nBerríos didn't fare as well the third time through, when he couldn't finish off Kolten Wong or Edman with two strikes, and the latter reached for a two-run homer on a pitch out of the zone. Goldschmidt's grounder up the middle ended Berríos' appearance after five-plus innings, and he came around to score, tagging Berríos for three late runs.
Donaldson's big swing gave Berríos most of the help he needed to help the performance stand.\n\nAfter hitting a sharp single in his first-inning plate appearance against right-hander Carlos Martínez, the Bringer of Rain got the barrel to a slider in the third inning and smacked it into the left-field bullpen for a three-run blast, his third of the season. Donaldson is now slugging .750 since his return from the injured list, including two homers, a double and five walks.
\n\n