Make It Official! Twins 3, Rangers 2: When Bailey Ober Pitches, the Twins Win

[Sherry Cerny]

A slew of roster moves have plagued the Twins over the past 10 days, yet the twins have forged forward, taking the series from Kansas City, and now face the Texas Rangers who are struggling this season to look like their old selves.

 

Box Score
Starting Pitcher: Bailey Ober 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K (93 pitches, 63 strikes (68%)
Home Runs: Willi Castro (1)
Top 3 WPA: Jhoan Durán (.204), Bailey Ober (.160), Jorge Alcalá (.108)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs)

Is it Ober?
Bailey Ober has been terrific this season. He instills confidence in the team and its fans, alike. Thursday night, he came out and tried to shake all that confidence, right away. Ober threw 28 pitches, loaded the bases twice, walked in a run, and gave up a sac fly before closing the inning with two runs. The Rangers wouldn't score again.

The second inning for Ober went much better, keeping his pitches down and getting out of the inning with some assistance from the defense. No damage was allowed, and retiring the side took only 10 pitches. Ober looked more controlled and calm, compared to the first inning. He's been so consistently efficient this season that, compared to where he has been on the mound, Thursday night was rough. At the end of the third inning, Ober had 54 pitches. The nerviness of the whole thing was out of character, but the results gradually came to match nicely with his other outings.

Just Some More RISP
The Twins answered Texas's opening volley immediately in the top of the second, with a solo home run from Willi Castro, followed by Kyle Farmer, the next at-bat, who drove one to left-center field and was able to get around the bases for an inside-the-park home run, called a triple due to an error from Rangers center fielder Leody Taveras.

Max Kepler made it on base after taking a hit by a pitch to the shin, but was ultimately stranded after back-to-back outs from Austin Martin and Manuel Margot.

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Twins Daily's winning "Make It Official!" game recaps are sponsored by Official Fried Chicken, which you can find in center field of Target Field. With a name like "Official," we know we have to be the best in the game every day, and from your first bite, you'll know thats a promise we make good on.

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Both teams sat stagnant, and then there was a glimmer of hope for the Twins.

Rangers sent out pitcher Jose Léclerc, and it looked like he would cycle quickly through the hitters, getting two outs right away, one of those being a foul ball off of Matt Wallner's knee, who stayed in but then struck out swinging. That quickly changed, though, as Léclerc walked Carlos Santana with Royce Lewis on deck. During Lewis’s at-bat with a 2-2 count, Santana picked up his fourth stolen base this season, in preparation for what would hopefully be some help from Lewis. Instead, it was another walk, with José Miranda on deck. Miranda battled tough, but unfortunately struck out swinging, bringing the runners left in scoring position for the night up to five, four of those with two outs.

One Run and Done...Finally
Griffin Jax took over for Ober in the seventh, along with defensive changes. Margot slid over to center field and Wallner took over in left, after pinch-hitting for Martin. It was yet another scoreless inning for Jax, with only one on base, giving the Twins a chance to break out of the tie--only for them to do nothing in the eighth. 

Jorge Alcala kept the Rangers from scoring any runs, pushing the game into the ninth inning. With both teams unable to move the offensive needle, the battle came down to breaking the tie from the bullpens and who would blink first.

Rangers reliever Kirby Yates had one out, a popout from Kepler, before walking Wallner (who then stole second) and Margot. On a wild pitch to Santana that bounced in front of Jonah Heim, Wallner and Margot advanced, putting them in perfect position to score. And Santana, who just fouled off a ball that was nearly a home run, punched a sac fly to right, allowing Wallner to advance and take the lead, making way for Jhoan Durán to close out the game. 

Duran worked through a long battle with Marcus Semien, but he closed out the game with the Twins winning 3-2, allowing us all to breathe, until tomorrow night.

What’s next?
The Twins continue the series with the Rangers Thursday this weekend. Tomorrow, the Twins send out Simeon Woods-Richardson (3-3, 3.52 ERA) who continues to slowly improve, against Rangers pitcher Heaney (4-12, 4.05 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm CT.

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[BH67]

When Wallner walked in the 9th and stole second, Margot followed with a walk, and Santana, Lewis and Miranda were next up, tonight’s game became a must-win. And so they did. The missing firepower on the IL will result in plenty more nights like this, but the offense did enough. Ober did enough. And the Jax-Alcala-Duran assembly line was marvelous.

A toast to scrappy victory.

[tony&rodney]

Nice win. Twins bat against another LH SP tomorrow.

[gregens]

Ober was good, even when he wasn't good.  He battled through it!

[TheLeviathan]

We'd have won this game if Rocco showed some energy and secured the Texas border.

Useless.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

4 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

We'd have won this game if Rocco showed some energy and secured the Texas border.

Useless.

[VivaBomboRivera!]

Order of the Day:
Kyle Farmer is a stud muffin.
Bleacher belly-aching ends now.
That is all.

[mikelink45]

This begs the question - Is Ober now the Ace?

Ober 12 - 5 3.52 O,96 Whip 128 Innings

Lopez 11 - 8 4.67  1.15 135

Both are 28.  I like Ober's consistency. 

But then up and coming - Richards - age 23  3-3 3.76 1.18 Whip 102

Ryan is 7 - 7 3.60 0.98 135 innings

Nice to have so many choices!  

Can Zebby, Festa or Varland compete with these stats? 

And if you are wondering Paddack had higher era and whip than any of the first four.

[BH67]

5 minutes ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

Duck's off. Sorry.

[Blyleven2011]

Suspenseful  all the way to the end ....

Twins win the opener  and sets the tone for the series ...

Let's go twins , you beat up on texas last year , let do it again  ...

Not the prettiest win but a much needed one for the race to the division  ...

Did I say go twins yet ...

[USAFChief]

Game recap Nitpic: Ober had a rough 1st inning, but did not load the bases twice, nor walk in a run.

 

He did recover and got through six with no more damage though.

 

 

[ashbury]

Ober's got 9 more starts maybe? Will he reach 20 wins?

[Schmoeman5]

16 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Ober's got 9 more starts maybe? Will he reach 20 wins?

Win totals and RBI.  Both meaningless stats. It has to be woba or fwar or ops+or- My personal favorite is fubar of course. Go Bailey. Get to 20.

[Doctor Wu]

Not only did Wallner steal a base but Carlos Santana, yes the baseball player, stole a base for the Twins too! Even more surprising to me, it was his fourth steal of the year. Who knew we had signed such a speedy veteran!

[Eephus]

I had the sound turned off. Where was Vazquez going when he got doubled off first on a fly to right?

Seemed like the game turned when against Yates we stopped swinging at balls.

[Peter]

This was nerve wracking intense huge must win which twins gutted out!!! Well done!! Go twins!!!

[mikelink45]

5 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

Win totals and RBI.  Both meaningless stats. It has to be woba or fwar or ops+or- My personal favorite is fubar of course. Go Bailey. Get to 20.

Not meaningless to many of us.  MLB is now considering a six inning requirement for SP in the future (per the Athletic).  I know there is a lot to work out, but I like the idea.  3 - 4 BP pitchers per game is not for me and I will celebrate a 20 game winner any time.  I know you are new age and I am old age - too late for me to change over.  Give me wins, ERAs, RBIs (yes they count - that is why we look at RISP each game).

[William K Johnson]

At the end of the season, when we bemoan the games, we could have won, this may be one that we look back at as one that we should have lost.

[Whitey333]

Nice win Twins.  Let's keep it going.  

ALERT!!!  Byron Buxton is on the injured list again.  My goodness.  Some people think the Twins season is doomed.  For 8 of his 9 seasons we have seen Buxton spend more time on IL than on the field.  Who isn't sick of this?  Yes he was playing well when he plays.  But he is just a (injured) shell of all the hype and promise.  The Twins have done quite well when he is gone.  Go Twins!

[Old Twins Hat]

How do I shut off the volume on your voice-overs on the website?

People do like to watch the highlights with sound and now it's just all a jumble of voices with two audios going.

BTW, I don't enjoy having a disembodied voice pop on all of a sudden on a beautiful quiet morning.  We should be able to opt out.

[tony&rodney]

1 hour ago, Eephus said:

I had the sound turned off. Where was Vazquez going when he got doubled off first on a fly to right?

Seemed like the game turned when against Yates we stopped swinging at balls.

Vazquez was stealing second and he had it easily too. Martin missed the take sign.

[USAFChief]

1 minute ago, tony&rodney said:

Vazquez was stealing second and he had it easily too. Martin missed the take sign.

I'm guessing it was a hit and run.

Vazquez got deeked at 2nd.

 

[wabene]

1 hour ago, Peter said:

This was nerve wracking intense huge must win which twins gutted out!!! Well done!! Go twins!!

 

[tony&rodney]

6 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I'm guessing it was a hit and run.

Vazquez got deeked at 2nd.

 

Hayes (The Athletic) reported that Martin missed the take sign.

[chinmusic]

33 minutes ago, Whitey333 said:

But he is just a (injured) shell of all the hype and promise.  The Twins have done quite well when he is gone.  Go Twins!

Well, yeah. But they do even better when he's playing, and Buck is a joy to watch.

[Linus]

45 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Hayes (The Athletic) reported that Martin missed the take sign.

That makes sense as Vasquez didn’t look in on the play which you are supposed to do if it’s a hit and run. Watching Martin learn the fundamentals of baseball has been frustrating. 

[terrydactyls]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Not meaningless to many of us.  MLB is now considering a six inning requirement for SP in the future (per the Athletic).  I know there is a lot to work out, but I like the idea.  3 - 4 BP pitchers per game is not for me and I will celebrate a 20 game winner any time.  I know you are new age and I am old age - too late for me to change over.  Give me wins, ERAs, RBIs (yes they count - that is why we look at RISP each game).

I agree with you 100% (almost).  I read Schmoeman5's comment as being sarcastic.  If it wasn't, then I agree 100%.

[Schmoeman5]

2 hours ago, mikelink45 said:

Not meaningless to many of us.  MLB is now considering a six inning requirement for SP in the future (per the Athletic).  I know there is a lot to work out, but I like the idea.  3 - 4 BP pitchers per game is not for me and I will celebrate a 20 game winner any time.  I know you are new age and I am old age - too late for me to change over.  Give me wins, ERAs, RBIs (yes they count - that is why we look at RISP each game).

I was being facetious. I'm old school too

[thelanges5]

3 hours ago, Eephus said:

I had the sound turned off. Where was Vazquez going when he got doubled off first on a fly to right?

Seemed like the game turned when against Yates we stopped swinging at balls.

Dan Hayes mentioned that Martin missed a take sign and swung on Colo’s steal attempt. 

[LambchoP]

Good win, Duran starting to look better. Jax and Alcala are shut down late inning studs. Problem is, they can't pitch every day. If we're winning a close game tonight it'll be who? Richards, Theilbar, Okert trying to get late inning outs. That's a scary thought.. we need Topa ASAP and someone else to step it up. Like what we've seen from Sands lately.