MINNEAPOLIS — There was thunder and lightning Monday night at Target Field. A rainbow even appeared. The Twins hope Bailey Ober’s disastrous start simply turns out to be a unicorn.
Ober’s worst start since Opening Day, which was followed by a quick-developing storm that resulted in an 86-minute rain delay, led to the Twins’ sixth loss in eight games.
Ober surrendered a career-worst nine earned runs in two innings and the Atlanta Braves opened a three-game series by sending the Twins to a 10-6 loss in front of 18,974.
Despite losing for the third time in four games on their homestand, the Twins actually gained ground on two of three teams nearest to them in the American League playoff picture. While they fell 1 1/2 games behind Kansas City for second place in the AL Central, the Royals’ doubleheader sweep of first-place Cleveland moved the Twins within 2 1/2 of first place.
Boston, the nearest team in the wild-card picture, also was swept in a doubleheader and sits five games back of the Twins.
But that was about it for the warm and fuzzies. Until it was far too late, the rest of Monday was on par with how the last week and a half of games have transpired for the Twins.
“I was pretty angry,” Ober said. “I threw some stuff (in the clubhouse). But, I don’t know, I’m just trying to go over the outing in my head as much as I can and see if I could have done anything different, then just kind of sifting through it and trying to move on.”
Ober would likely be best served to flush Monday’s start from his memory as soon as possible. He did the same with his Opening Day outing at Kansas City and moved on quickly and effectively.
Typically a command king, Ober’s best deserted him Monday.
Perhaps it was the miserably hot 91-degree conditions in which the game began, though Ober wouldn’t use that as an excuse, noting he’d pitched in similar or worse conditions before and handled it. Ober suggested one reason for the worst outing of his career was Braves hitters didn’t bite at his chase pitches.
Whatever it was, Ober was as inconsistent of a strike-thrower as he’s been.
After getting ahead in the count 0-2 on the first batter he faced, Whit Merrifield, Ober left a 2-2 cutter over the plate and it went for a single. He walked Jorge Soler, and then Marcell Ozuna singled on a 1-2 changeup that caught too much of the zone to make it 1-0. Ober got ahead of Matt Olson 0-2 before leaving his cutter in a spot where the hitter punished it for a shocking three-run homer.
“Definitely surprising,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Anytime the game starts like that, it’s not really what you’re expecting.”
Pouring it on early! pic.twitter.com/EZkcGWtLOp
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) August 26, 2024
Ober entered Monday with a 6.00 first-inning ERA this season, his worst in any frame. But his troubles only increased in the second inning as Atlanta put together a rally, all with two outs.
Merrifield got the rally going with a double, Soler walked on four pitches and Ozuna doubled in a run to make it 5-1. Olson doubled in two more runs to increase the deficit to six and Travis d’Arnaud hit a two-run homer to make it a 9-1 contest.
The effort raised Ober’s ERA from 3.54 to 4.06.
“You never want any of these big blowup games,” Ober said. “It sucks and it ruins a lot of numbers and stuff like that, and obviously you’re not helping your team win when that happens. The best I can do is just move on and get ready for my next start, so that’s just what I plan on doing.”
How the Twins move on Tuesday remains to be seen.
Before the game, Baldelli suggested the club’s overworked bullpen could use a typical Ober outing where the righty pitches deep into the game. Ober entered the contest with 11 straight quality starts, the longest for a Twins pitcher since Johan Santana’s 21 in 2004.
Ober lasting two innings wasn’t what Baldelli had in mind.
To make the situation more difficult, the Twins trailed by only eight runs, which meant they couldn’t pitch a position player. Baldelli instead turned to Scott Blewett, who pitched three scoreless innings; Trevor Richards, who allowed a run over two frames; and Ronny Henriquez, who pitched two shutout innings.
Afterward, Baldelli didn’t comment when asked if any moves were coming.
“Our bullpen got worked,” Baldelli said. “You have to throw guys. You just make do with what you have to do. You have to get through the game. … Then you figure out tomorrow.”
The Twins tried to rally and made a decent dent, but it came far too late. Atlanta starter Max Fried surprisingly returned after the 86-minute rain delay and was very good, striking out seven and completing five innings. Even when an error sparked a brief two-run Twins rally in the fifth, Fried fired a 97.6 mph fastball to strike out Royce Lewis with two aboard to end the inning.
Manny Margot went 3-for-5 with an RBI in the loss. Matt Wallner and Kyle Farmer each homered.
Storm hit earlier than expected
Thirty-six minutes after the scheduled start time, Monday’s contest entered a delay for potential inclement weather. That decision was made several minutes after local tornado sirens warned people in downtown Minneapolis to head for cover.
The storm hit soon thereafter, resulting in rain, swirling winds, thunder, lightning, a sky that changed colors multiple times and produced a post-apocalyptic-looking rainbow over the left-field scoreboard. The delay lasted 86 minutes and ended Ober’s night.
Baldelli said the Twins believed they had a longer window before the storm would hit, a situation they routinely face during the summer.
“There are days where stuff moves and pops up and shows up where none of the experts are expecting it, and there’s nothing you can do,” Baldelli said. “Not everyone is going to hear all those conversations that go on. We start tons of games here knowing that we might have an hour and a half of good weather to maybe play with, and then knowing there is rain definitely coming. That’s kind of where we were sitting at game time, and so we’re going to start. We have to. If we don’t do that, we’re just going to end up not playing baseball constantly. So we started it up, and the rain came much sooner than expected. And with the volatile weather, stuff was just showing up where there was nothing 15 minutes before.
“Unfortunately, for the game itself, for both teams dealing with that, that’s not what you’re hoping for. You don’t want that. But we have to start games if we think we have an hour and a half of time to play.”
Baseball skies pic.twitter.com/ZHl5hwY4Iu
— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) August 27, 2024
There still are no specific timelines, but Baldelli hinted before the game that Byron Buxton could be nearing the start of a rehab assignment. Buxton went on the injured list Aug. 15 with right hip inflammation. Asked if Buxton would require plate appearances in minor-league games, Baldelli said yes.
“I’m anticipating him going on a rehab assignment when he’s ready to come back, and I think we’re getting closer to that,” Baldelli said. “We’re not there yet, as far as picking dates, but I do think he will (go on an assignment). … I don’t think it’ll be a long rehab assignment if he were to go on one, but I think he will probably go on one.”
(Photo of Bailey Ober after giving up a two-run home run to Travis d’Arnaud in the second inning Monday: David Berding / Getty Images)