Twins 6, Braves 10: Ober Streak Ends on a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Rainy, Lightning-Filled Night

[Nate Palmer]

Tornado Sirens, Rain, and Wind helped the Minnesota Twins welcome the Braves to town. The Braves enjoyed that welcome as they hit starter Bailey Ober hard for nine quick runs to put the game away early. 

Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Box Score
SP: Bailey Ober: 2.0 IP, 7 H, 9 ER, 2 BB, 2 K (55 pitches, 32 strikes (58.2%)
Home Runs: Kyle Farmer (2), Matt Wallner (10)
Bottom 3 WPA: Bailey Ober (-0.494), Royce Lewis (-0.068), Austin Martin (-0.017)

Win Probability Chart (via FanGraphs) 

The Minnesota Twins had their ace on the mound and a reeling Atlanta Braves offense in town. It seemed that the stars were aligned as long as the offense could find something against the Braves’ top starter, Max Fried, Monday night could go the good guys' way. In many ways, we instead learned that when it rains, it pours. 

Brave score early and often
The top of the lineup was filled with former Kansas City Royals. Whit Merrifield led the game off with a single, and Jorge Soler walked to put two on for the Braves 2024 MVP Marcell Ozuna. Ozuna came through with a single off Bailey Ober to score Merrifield and give the Braves a quick 1-0 lead. 

The Braves would not stop there. Up next was one of last season’s stars for the Braves, Matt Olson, who came through with a home run off of an Ober changeup deep to right-center field. While Olson hasn’t had the same season he had in 2024, over the past 28 days he has hit seven home runs and put up a .825 OPS. 

The Twins did try to keep the game within reach based on a lot of work from Manuel Margot. In his typical lead-off spot against a left-handed starter, Margot led off with a double. Margot then stole third base, putting him in position to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Jose Miranda. That brought the Twins within 3 with a 4-1 score. That quickly wouldn’t seem to matter at all. 

Ober got two outs quickly in the second inning, but everything seemed to unravel with two outs on the board. Back at the top of the Braves lineup, Merrifield doubled, Soler walked, Ozuna doubled and collected an RBI. Olson hit a sharp double on the ground, and two more runs scored. Before that final out would be recorded, catcher Travis d’Arnaud also got in on the hit parade and hit a two-run home run. In case you weren’t keeping score, the Braves were up 9-1 at the end of the second inning. 

It was precisely at that time that the skies opened up, and the winds blew strong, sending the game into a significant weather delay. It was obvious that Ober may have been finished for the night even without a delay. The Braves looked to have something on Ober’s changeup. Four out of the five run-scoring plays came off of the right-hander changeup.  

At 8:40 p.m., play resumed, and so did Braves starter Fried, which removed any silver linings from the rain delay for the Twins. Fried continued to cruise through Twins batters for most of his outing. Resulting in seven strikeouts and no real scoring threats until the fifth inning. If it wasn’t for a throwing error, Fried may have even been able to get through that inning clean. 

Scott Blewett executes
It will go with little fanfare and likely under the radar of most fans, but Scott Blewett gave the Twins exactly the three innings they needed. In a game like Monday nights, it seemed that the team’s top goals would be to avoid freak injuries and use as few bullpen arms as possible. Blewett had to avoid the freak injury side early on after taking a comebacker off his pitching hand. 

From there, Blewett made quick work of the Braves on many fronts. By the time the Twins righty left the game, in fewer pitches and innings he had matched Max Fried in swings and misses with nine. Those swings and misses helped Blewett to three strikeouts while only giving up two hits on 39 pitches. 

Twins not ready to give up
As previously mentioned, the Twins began showing life in the fifth inning. While much of Twins territory likely turned to other endeavors, the Twins weren’t ready to. Willi Castro started the action by reaching on a throwing error. Castro continued to show he was still playing for this game on a Wallner single when he hustled into third, forcing a throw that allowed Wallner to advance to second base. 

Austin Martin was next, and even though Fried had his number earlier in the game, he could squeak out a swing bunt, forcing Gio Urshela to mishandle the ball and allowing Castro to scamper across home plate. Margot followed up with another hit, plating Wallner, bringing the score to 9-3. 

Kyle Farmer and Matt Wallner would hit solo shots late to bring the game to within four runs. The lead was too great to overcome fully, but the team stayed away from key bullpen arms, hoping they would be set up to flush this game and come back strong tomorrow. 

What’s Next?
Tuesday’s game will be a matchup of rookies. The Braves will send right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach to the mound. Swellenbach has made 14 starts this season, holding a 3.94 ERA and a 10.3 K/9. The Twins counter with Simeon Woods Richardson. Woods Richardson has his impressive season going with 22 starts and a 3.69 ERA, and he continues to give the Twins a chance in the games he starts. 

Postgame Interviews
Coming Soon

Bullpen Usage Spreadsheet

	THU	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TOT
Richards	0	44	0	0	33	77
Blewett	13	0	0	0	39	52
Durán	0	0	16	25	0	41
Henríquez	0	0	0	0	32	32
Jax	0	0	19	12	0	31
Sands	0	0	0	26	0	26
Alcalá	0	25	0	0	0	25
Thielbar	0	18	0	0	0	18

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[USAFChief]

A team serious about competing doesn't have Kyle Farmer batting 5th.

 

BTW, You have the wrong team listed as "reeling."

Atlanta had won 6 of 8 and 9 of 13 coming in. 

[thelanges5]

What a ****** outing for Ober. Twins SPs had and era under three and were averaging 5.1 innings per start since Joe went down. 

[mikelink45]

Bring on the rookies and challenge them to get another inning in each start. 

What a let down. We continue to struggle against any team that is 500 or better and that is not the mark of a team that we can look to the playoffs and hope for any success.  

Thank goodness for wallner.

And luckily we could get Richards in so he could throw another wild pitch. What in the world could they have seen in him that we would make a trade of more than a sack of balls to acquire him?

[Blyleven2011]

The way this game started , it brought back memories of twins Dick Woodson pitching ...

[S Bart]

UFF da!!!!  Tough game.

My biggest concern is the following.

"Correa admitted that he and the Twins are being more careful, since the setback. Because this plantar injury is in his right foot. The same right foot that was surgically repaired in 2014, and the same one that failed two $300 million physicals last Spring."

 

[Peter]

Horrible ugly terrible game that should’ve never been played with the bad weather-regroup and and with this series/sweep Toronto!!!

[Karbo]

Missed the game due to storm and power outages. Looks like I was lucky!

[Whitey333]

Twins have now list 6 of their last 8.  But Cleveland keeps losing so we hang in there.  They keep bragging how we lost and still gained a half game on Cleveland.  They fail to mention we lost a game and a half to Kansas City.  Good news is we are still 5 games up on Boston for final wild card spot in playoffs.  We are 32-44 against teams with winning records.  Not impressive if you want to advance in playoffs.  Buxton and Correa seem content to stay on IL instead of trying to help the team in their drive.  Beginning to think the Mets and Giants were right in not signing Correa.  

[Riverbrian]

I understand that it was just one game. And I realize that 17 really scattered AB's is a small undependable sample.

However... Just for fun. I would like to point that Matt Wallner with his home run and single off a left hander last night. His OPS has risen to .879 against left handers. 

[chinmusic]

3 hours ago, Peter said:

/sweep Toronto!!!

Beware the Jays. They're "rockin the highway" right now.

[chinmusic]

7 hours ago, S Bart said:

The same right foot that was surgically repaired in 2014, and the same one that failed two $300 million physicals last Spring."

Interesting premise, Still, it's speculation.

I'd like to have Lucas Seehafer weigh in on this.

[JD-TWINS]

7 hours ago, S Bart said:

UFF da!!!!  Tough game.

My biggest concern is the following.

"Correa admitted that he and the Twins are being more careful, since the setback. Because this plantar injury is in his right foot. The same right foot that was surgically repaired in 2014, and the same one that failed two $300 million physicals last Spring."

 

Have you quoted yourself here? Who’s stating this “in quotes info”? ………..maybe the first two sentences but CC nor the Twins would say anything about failing physicals, etc.

Both have been conservative but optimistic for a month. Definite could use his presence in the line-up & no timetable is concerning!

[Maybebaby]

If that ol' snake doesn't quit biting our best players...K, serah, serah (something like that), to this season!

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, Whitey333 said:

Twins have now list 6 of their last 8.  But Cleveland keeps losing so we hang in there.  They keep bragging how we lost and still gained a half game on Cleveland.  They fail to mention we lost a game and a half to Kansas City.  Good news is we are still 5 games up on Boston for final wild card spot in playoffs.  We are 32-44 against teams with winning records.  Not impressive if you want to advance in playoffs.  Buxton and Correa seem content to stay on IL instead of trying to help the team in their drive.  Beginning to think the Mets and Giants were right in not signing Correa.  

Plantar fasciitis has nothing to do with a bad ankle. Last year it was his other foot.

K.C., when playing well, is a very good team. So are the Guardians and Twins. All 3 can look rough as well.

I really don’t think it makes sense, IMO here, that Buxton & Correa enjoy being in the IL and are content not helping the Team - seems like more than a big reach. These two guys are both having one of their top 2 seasons ever - both have missed time, granted.

When Cleveland and K.C. play each other it’s typically a positive step toward one and away from the other……tough not to be.

Haven’t seen anyone state this, with Division crown within reach, but finishing 3rd and going to Houston may be better than finishing 2nd in Wildcard and having to visit Baltimore or NY? At this point, fortunate Boston is struggling!

[JD-TWINS]

42 minutes ago, chinmusic said:

Beware the Jays. They're "rockin the highway" right now.

Agreed on Jays, been watching their scores - but need to beware of Braves in the one day at a time world.

[Riverbrian]

8 hours ago, S Bart said:

"Correa admitted that he and the Twins are being more careful, since the setback. Because this plantar injury is in his right foot. The same right foot that was surgically repaired in 2014, and the same one that failed two $300 million physicals last Spring."

I was sleeping in med school so I admit my knowledge of body parts comes primarily from that song "The Skeleton Dance". 

However... Reportedly he failed his physical with the Giants and Mets due to surgery on his ankle in 2014 after a fractured fibula. 

The current injury is a stabbing pain in the bottom of his foot near his heel called Plantar Fasciitis. The issue is with his right foot this year and his left foot last year. 

Again... I was sleeping in med school but these sure seem like different parts of the body. The song does say that the foot bone is connected to the leg bone so OK but if you keep going the song will connect all the way to the neck bone. 

 

[Riverbrian]

28 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Haven’t seen anyone state this, with Division crown within reach, but finishing 3rd and going to Houston may be better than finishing 2nd in Wildcard and having to visit Baltimore or NY? At this point, fortunate Boston is struggling!

Come playoff time. It's hard to know the team that you don't want to face.

Brewer Fans were probably happy with that opening round draw against the D-Backs. Dodger Fans probably thought they were fortunate that they didn't have to face the Brewers pitching. Phillies fans were probably excited that they avoided the Dodgers. 

My hope is that the Twins are the team that everybody wants to face and mistakenly so.  😉 

[David Maro]

Watched 1st inning only and saw Ober having problems with grip of the ball.He was wiping hand on pant leg and jersey.His pitches were way out of the zone or right down the middle.Let's be honest this one was over before the rain came.The thing that came out of the game was Blewett showed something.

Again as I stated before don't look for Correa or Buxton until KC or Cleveland series.

[LambchoP]

With Twins playing so poorly and time running out to secure the division, it sure would be nice to have our best players actually PLAY. The more IL time that gets racked up between Buxton and Correa makes me think they are content with letting the team try and make the playoffs. If they don't, seasons over and they can both go home. If we make the playoffs, they'll all of a sudden be ready to play and contribute in front of a national crowd. Not a good look from our supposed "stars". On the other hand, Blewitt looked real good. Solid replacement for Okert. Now Winder or Varland should replace Richards and we might have a respectable bullpen.

[S Bart]

50 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

Have you quoted yourself here? Who’s stating this “in quotes info”? ………..maybe the first two sentences but CC nor the Twins would say anything about failing physicals, etc.

Both have been conservative but optimistic for a month. Definite could use his presence in the line-up & no timetable is concerning!

Sorry....the quote came from Bobby Nightengale of the Star-Tribune. You may also want to visit the Skor North podcast from yesterday. It visits concerns that Correa has made about the injury and the connection to the ankle. 

[Danchat]

The bullpen mopped up this game shockingly well... too bad Ober's abysmal start didn't let them get back into this game.

[S Bart]

36 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I was sleeping in med school so I admit my knowledge of body parts comes primarily from that song "The Skeleton Dance". 

However... Reportedly he failed his physical with the Giants and Mets due to surgery on his ankle in 2014 after a fractured fibula. 

The current injury is a stabbing pain in the bottom of his foot near his heel called Plantar Fasciitis. The issue is with his right foot this year and his left foot last year. 

Again... I was sleeping in med school but these sure seem like different parts of the body. The song does say that the foot bone is connected to the leg bone so OK but if you keep going the song will connect all the way to the neck bone. 

 

Yes, the ankle is connected to the foot. See my other comment that was just noted. It is Correa, himself, that is stating the concerns about the issue. 

[D.C Twins]

39 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

I was sleeping in med school so I admit my knowledge of body parts comes primarily from that song "The Skeleton Dance". 

However... Reportedly he failed his physical with the Giants and Mets due to surgery on his ankle in 2014 after a fractured fibula. 

The current injury is a stabbing pain in the bottom of his foot near his heel called Plantar Fasciitis. The issue is with his right foot this year and his left foot last year. 

Again... I was sleeping in med school but these sure seem like different parts of the body. The song does say that the foot bone is connected to the leg bone so OK but if you keep going the song will connect all the way to the neck bone. 

 

Disrupted anatomy with compensatory changes from proximal injuries can absolutely cause foot problems unfortunately....

We knew we were getting damaged goods... the Giants and Mets medical staffs were not clueless....

we were just crossing our fingers that that damage would not be that bad.... Chronic foot problems are bad... 

[Riverbrian]

5 minutes ago, S Bart said:

Yes, the ankle is connected to the foot. See my other comment that was just noted. It is Correa, himself, that is stating the concerns about the issue. 

I was sleeping in med school. 

But... I have that song in my head now. 

[Riverbrian]

6 minutes ago, D.C Twins said:

Disrupted anatomy with compensatory changes from proximal injuries can absolutely cause foot problems unfortunately....

We knew we were getting damaged goods... the Giants and Mets medical staffs were not clueless....

we were just crossing our fingers that that damage would not be that bad.... Chronic foot problems are bad... 

I assume the body adjusts for a weakness... but again... I was sleeping in Med School. 

[bean5302]

Correa was having trouble running, it was though to be a bone bruise and later diagnosed as plantar faciitis.

Correa last year (with plantar faciitis vs. this year without)
.230/.312/.399 OPS .711 wRC+ 96
vs. 
.308/.377/.520 OPS .896 wRC+ 151

I think it's pretty clear why the Twins want him to fully heal up, and I suspect it's taking longer than they had hoped.

[Doctor Gast]

We lost the pre-rain game but won the post-rain game does that count? Nice comeback even though it wasn't enough to make up for the huge deficit. They still can't defend against Martin's swinging bunt. Was hoping for a much better game from Ober. What happened? Happy to get much-needed 3 good innings from Blewett.

We have lost the last 3 series (the ones we needed to win). ATL won't be easy but we need to win this series to be better situated in the standings. We need Correa, Buxton & Lee back as soon as possible & Lewis & Miranda to be Lewis & Miranda.

[joefish]

I can't imagine a worse game from Ober. 2 out runs. 2 strike home run. 

Just an absolute clunker of a start. 

[Riverbrian]

1 hour ago, Doctor Gast said:

We lost the pre-rain game but won the post-rain game does that count?

In the standings no... But I'll accept it as a consolation. 

Nice job pointing that out. I feel better.