Make It Official! Twins 6, A's 2: Splashes, Not Ripples

[Hans Birkeland]

Following Saturday's rainout, the Twins immediately went to work against a team designed to lose. Bailey Ober showed a lot of encouraging signs and ended up pitching deep in the game, and Carlos Correa showed no signs of slowing down, clobbering two of the team's four home runs in a solid win.

Image courtesy of © Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score:
Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober: 6 1/3 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K (96 Pitches, 64 Strikes, 66.6%)
Home Runs: Carlos Correa 2 (8), Royce Lewis (6), Carlos Santana (11)
Top 3 WPA: Ober (.220), Correa (.213), Lewis (.073)
Win Probability Chart (Via Fangraphs):

It's been quite a homestand for the Twins thus far, featuring the triumphant return of Louie Varland; (perhaps) the end of Caleb Thielbar; the Buxton-Correa-Lewis trio clicking for the first time.. ever; Flo Rida; and an overall record of five wins in six games.

After Saturday's game was rained out, the Twins turned to the scuffling Bailey Ober in game one of a Fathers Day twinbill. Ober seemed to be on the cusp of settling into one of his patented grooves in his last start, until Henry Davis and Andrew McCutchen wore him down with two outs in the fifth, seeing 17 combined pitches with each batter walking. Bryan Reynolds and Connor Joe made Ober pay, ruining his pitching line for the day. This, after he pitched his guts out in New York, beaten only because of a jam shot off the bat of Aaron Judge.

Ober started the day well, spotting a fastball that has proven more hittable this year. It was consistently 93 MPH, and his changeup looked as good as it has been this year, even to righties. Overall, the change accounted for four of his eight strikeouts, with eight whiffs on that pitch alone. He cruised the first time through the lineup, but then faced the visitors' best hitter, old friend Brent Rooker, in the third with two men on. This time, Ober did what he couldn't in Pittsburgh, dotting a change-up below Rooker's bat to end the threat.

Also unlike in Pittsburgh, the defense made some excellent plays behind him.

Opposing Ober was A's lefty J.P. Sears, a really nice number four starter they acquired for the husk of Frankie Montas at the 2022 trade deadline. However, in a change from the rest of the post-COVID Twins teams, this one can hit lefties. The resurgent Manuel Margot drew a tough walk to start the game against Sears, and then Carlos Correa unloaded on a high fastball for a two-run home run that surprised no one, given how unconscious Correa has been since that fateful tweet from a certain former-beat-reporter-turned-columnist whose distance from the center of things is starting to show.

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And then Royce Lewis did something even less surprising, homering on the first pitch to the overhang in right field.

Correa wasn't done, though, as he back-legged a sweeper from Sears in the fourth 408 feet for his third hit of the day, making the game 4-0. And with Ober in his biggest pickle of the day in the sixth, Correa made the unassisted double play off a hot ground ball from Soderstrom to preserve the shutout and hopefully give his starter something to build off of.

After Daz Cameron spoiled Ober's quest for a seven inning shut out by hammering an elevated change-up to make the score 4-1, Carlos Santana provided the insurance with a home run off lefty Brady Basso.

 

Jorge Alcala pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings before giving away to Cole Sands to finish off the win.

The Good:
-Correa's dominance is great, but for me as a fan of Larry David, the spite aspect of his "raking" makes it even better.
-Ober was not at his absolute best, but reversed a few trends in this start. He finished hitters off, as his eight strikeouts attest, and his changeup was a weapon.. until the last one he threw to Daz Cameron.
-Of Alcala's 22 pitches, 17 were strikes. Considering how high-octane his stuff is, that's real nice.

The Bad:
-Not a lot of bad stuff here, but Kyle Farmer made another out on the bases, which you would like to see less of.
-Sands struggled after he attempted to make an acrobatic play on a ball hit off of his body to start the ninth. After allowing two hits and a walk, Jhoan Duran was summoned in a 6-2 game to get the final out.

 

What’s Next: Chris Paddack (5-3, 4.79 ERA) opposes Joey Estes (2-2, 4.78 ERA) as the Twins look to sweep the doubleheader and the series. Estes is a 22-year-old right-hander who has held his own thus far in his career, but features below-average fastball velocity and was the eleventh ranked prospect in Oakland's fairly weak farm system entering the year. Paddack was much better against Colorado last time out, and his velocity has been on the rise since he battled a dead arm period a few weeks ago.

Postgame Interviews:

Bullpen Usage Chart:

	WED	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	TOT
Sands	0	0	25	0	27	52
Jax	0	19	23	0	0	42
Thielbar	22	0	0	0	0	22
Durán	16	0	20	0	9	45
Staumont	0	0	15	0	0	15
Alcalá	10	13	0	0	22	45
Jackson	22	0	0	0	0	22
Okert	18	0	0	0	0	18

 

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[BH67]

Bailey missed seven innings by just two outs. Run support with echoes of the Bomba Squad also appeared. I essentially got what I wished for on Friday night. Let's sweep this.

I’ll confess, however, that when the Twins left seven on base in the first three innings, I was truly in my element as a Minnesota sports fan.

[CRF]

Howz about we get the brooms out?

[Mark G]

I don't mean to be........well, mean, but Farmer gets on base twice with a hit and a walk.......and gets caught stealing and picked off? 🤔  I really like the guy, but he is having a rough season.  

Wouldn't be so bad, but Santana stole 2nd base......SANTANA?  

Maybe I am missing something, but just from a box score standpoint, it looks bad.  😕

[CoastiePilot08]

What’s the C4 tweet controversy? 
 

someone fill me in…

[Alex Wilde]

19 minutes ago, CoastiePilot08 said:

What’s the C4 tweet controversy? 
 

someone fill me in…

I feel like it might have something to do with Patrick Reusse, but that’s just a hunch feeling lol

[Matt Braun]

10 minutes ago, Alex Wilde said:

I feel like it might have something to do with Patrick Reusse, but that’s just a hunch feeling lol

LaVelle 

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

43 minutes ago, Mark G said:

I don't mean to be........well, mean, but Farmer gets on base twice with a hit and a walk.......and gets caught stealing and picked off? 🤔  I really like the guy, but he is having a rough season.  

Wouldn't be so bad, but Santana stole 2nd base......SANTANA?  

Maybe I am missing something, but just from a box score standpoint, it looks bad.  😕

It was bad

[mnfireman]

49 minutes ago, Mark G said:

I don't mean to be........well, mean, but Farmer gets on base twice with a hit and a walk.......and gets caught stealing and picked off? 🤔  I really like the guy, but he is having a rough season.  

Wouldn't be so bad, but Santana stole 2nd base......SANTANA?  

Maybe I am missing something, but just from a box score standpoint, it looks bad.  😕

It was the same play.

I am assuming Farmer went on first move, same as on Wednesday. Still not a good look.

[DJL44]

1 hour ago, Mark G said:

I don't mean to be........well, mean, but Farmer gets on base twice with a hit and a walk.......and gets caught stealing and picked off? 🤔  I really like the guy, but he is having a rough season.  

I enjoyed Kris Atteberry's story about Kyle Farmer getting ripped repeatedly in the family group text messages by his own grandmother. I'm sure Grandma will let him know about today too.

[USAFChief]

"Jorge Alcala pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings before giving away to Cole Sands to finish off the win"

 

Uh, no. Sands was unable to finish off the win.

Needed to burn Duran with the tying run on deck.

 

[SwainZag]

Ober throwing into the 7th is such a welcome sign.  Can they just not start him against KC, like plan around it?  Dude might win the Cy Young if that's the case.

[Fatbat]

40th win of the season was exciting!!! Lewis doing Lewis things and Martin being Martin. Its a seriously comical allstar performance!!! 😁🤦‍♂️😁

[Linus]

2 hours ago, USAFChief said:

"Jorge Alcala pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings before giving away to Cole Sands to finish off the win"

 

Uh, no. Sands was unable to finish off the win.

Needed to burn Duran with the tying run on deck.

 

Unfortunately he does that with some regularity. 

[JD-TWINS]

19 hours ago, Mark G said:

I don't mean to be........well, mean, but Farmer gets on base twice with a hit and a walk.......and gets caught stealing and picked off? 🤔  I really like the guy, but he is having a rough season.  

Wouldn't be so bad, but Santana stole 2nd base......SANTANA?  

Maybe I am missing something, but just from a box score standpoint, it looks bad.  😕

Am a fan of Farmer’s …..Twins fan in Cincinnati…..watch most games. His base running reeks of desperation to do something positive and he’s on base relatively seldom - I think he’s pressing but it HAS TO STOP! It’s unprofessional and is hurting the Team. He’s a veteran and has to be smarter than this.

[JD-TWINS]

Alcala is starting to look “Stewart like” with his stuff and generally ….better control. It’s all about throwing strikes with him. Glad to see him at least progressing.