Kinston hurler on the upswing

Kinston southpaw Eric Berger has experienced highs and lows as drastic as his 12-to-6 curveball in his recovery from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow three years ago.

“It’s never a smooth road,” said Berger, a 23-year-old out of the University of Arizona. “You run into bumps in the road where you think you’ve injured it again or possibly even tore it again. I had to get an MRI on it in late ’07. But after all the scar tissue gets broken up and you get some innings under your belt … I feel like I’m at pre-surgery form.”

He is on a minor league career high right now after being named Carolina League pitcher of the week last week for pitching 10 scoreless innings in two starts, both wins, including five frames last Sunday against the Lynchburg Hillcats to help the Indians salvage a four-game series split in Kinston.

Berger didn’t get the decision in Saturday night’s rematch with fellow left-hander Justin Wilson, pitching four more scoreless innings before walking the first four batters he faced in the fifth.

But he left with a 4-1 lead and Kinston held on for a 6-2 victory to even the series at 1-1 before a crowd of 2,678 at City Stadium.

“I don’t think he had the command he had last Sunday,” Hillcats manager P.J. Forbes said. “(But) he’s got great stuff. He’s got three pitches.”

Berger is regaining his form and now throws his over-the-top fastball at around 90 mph, mixing in a changeup and breaking pitch to keep hitters off balance. He has struck out 31 and walked only 12 in 23 innings so far.

“He’s really done a good job of going out and throwing strikes,” Kinston manager Chris Tremie said. “He ran into a little bit of trouble tonight, but in all of his other outings and even early on tonight, he’s really thrown the ball well. He threw three pitches for strikes through four innings.”

Berger hasn’t had to change his unique delivery since the surgery.

“I’ve always thrown that way, all over the top,” he said. “Nobody’s really taught me. It’s normal to me.

“Everybody says it’s weird, though.”

On Saturday, he received plenty of support from Kinston’s bullpen, including right-handed reliever Chen-Chang Lee, who came in with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the fifth. Lee induced leadoff batter Jose De Los Santos to ground into a fielder’s choice, which scored Kent Sakomato with the second run, before striking out Jordy Mercer and getting Pedro Alvarez to fly out deep to center field for the final out, stranding runners at second and third.

“Great job coming in bases loaded nobody out, ended up giving up a run, but did an excellent job,” Tremie said.

And he got ample offensive support from clean-up hitter Matt Brown, who delivered a two-run double past third baseman Alvarez in the first inning and went the other way with a home run over the right-field scoreboard in the third.

Alvarez struggled to an 0-for-5 night at the plate, striking out four times against four Indians pitchers, the last two times with two runners on base in the seventh and ninth.

“I think we had chances and didn’t execute when we had chances, but that’s going to happen with young hitters,” Forbes said.

Lynchburg’s bullpen kept the Hillcats in contention until the eighth, when a bad-hop single past first baseman Matt Hague opened the door for the Indians to add two runs off Chris Cullen.