Following a 91-minute rain delay Monday, Bailey Ober had the Twins down two runs after facing his first three batters. Ober appeared to have the Philadelphia Phillies, the major leagues’ best record, precisely where he wanted them. He received an applause as he went off the field in the seventh inning, as well as a congratulatory handshake after delivering one of his best starts of the season in a 7-2 victory at Target Field. The Twins have struggled against the league’s top teams this season, going 3-19 versus the six MLB teams with superior records, but Ober led them to their first victory since the All-Star break.
Ober retired 17 of his last 18 batters, including a span of 12 straight. He did not allow a hit after a leadoff single in the second inning. Following a rocky first inning, it was all about dominance.
Trea Turner hit a single to right field, bringing up Bryce Harper for his first at-bat at Target Field in his celebrated 13-season career. Harper lauded Ober after seeing him during spring training, where he struck out seven of the ten batters he faced and clocked his fastball at 94.8 mph. “If he’s going to be 95 or 96 [mph], good luck to anybody in the Central because that’s going to be a tough at-bat,” Harper remarked during an interview on television.
Ober has never maintained that level of velocity during the regular season, throwing only three pitches above 94 mph this year. Harper smashed an 86.5-mph cutter on the inside part of the plate beyond the right-field seats and onto the concourse. The ball departed Harper’s bat at 114 mph. The Phillies, who boast the National League’s second-highest run average, did not have another runner reach second base.
Ober threw seven pitches in the third inning, twelve pitches in the fourth, twelve pitches in the fifth, and nine pitches in the sixth. Only one ball left the infield during his second appearance in the Phillies’ lineup. He tossed his first career complete game in Oakland last month, and it was nearly dominant. He gave Turner a leadoff walk in the sixth inning, the Phillies’ only baserunner after the second, and erased it by inducing a double play off Harper. Cole Sands, who relieved Ober with a two-run lead, allowed no hits in the remaining two innings. Philadelphia had four hits, which matched for the second-lowest total of the season.
The Twins, meantime, took their first lead of the game in the fifth inning with three straight hits against All-Star lefthander Ranger Suárez. Max Kepler, the Twins’ only lefty, hit a single to center field. In a 0-2 count, Diego A. Castillo hit a ball down the right-field line that bounced into the seats for a ground-rule double, putting two runners in scoring position with none out. The Twins’ next batter was Manuel Margot, who was acquired in the summer to hit left-handed pitching. Margot lined a sinker that did not sink into right field for a two-run single. It was the same lineup that scored in the third inning. Castillo sketched a one-out walk,
Willi Castro hit a down-the-middle pitch to center in a 3-1 count for an RBI single after Margot singled. When the Twins were swept by the Milwaukee Brewers last weekend, they went 3-for-26 with runners in scoring position, but they were a more efficient 2-for-4 in the first five innings.
After the Twins loaded the bases but failed to score in the sixth inning, Carlos Santana hit a two-out RBI double off the right-field wall in the seventh. In the eighth inning, the Twins scored three runs on Kepler’s RBI single, Castro’s bases-loaded walk, and Edouard Julien’s wild pitch.
