Twins starter Bailey Ober had struggled against the Royals this season, but on Saturday he mastered the team from Kansas City, allowing just a hit across seven innings with seven strikeouts.
If only the bullpen and defense had been just as good.
Ober exited stage left after seven innings and was followed by closer Jhoan Duran and reliever Griffin Jax and it all fell apart.
Duran allowed three runs on two hits and a hit batter, Jax coughed up the fourth run, and the Royals overcame a 2-0 deficit to win 4-2.
Rookie Brooks Lee, who got stuck with a slow roller, also threw wide of first base to make it 2-2 before the Royals tacked on two more runs.
The loss dropped the Twins to 76-66. They are now 1.5 games back of the Royals and 5.5 games behind the Cleveland Guardians as of this writing. They also are 4 games up on the Boston Red Sox for the final wild card spot in the American League. You can forget about trying to win the division, Minnesota. It’s time to focus on just securing a wild card berth.
The Twins try to avoid the sweep Sunday. Simeon Woods Richardson gets the ball.
Extra innings…
-You know this question is coming: Why was Ober pulled from the game after seven scoreless innings and 83 pitches? That was a mistake and the Twins paid for it. Sometimes you have to forget what the analytics say and go with the hot hand. Ober had allowed one hit, folks. Stick with the guy.
-Duran absorbed the loss and falls to 6-9 on the season with a 3.99 ERA, which isn’t great for your closer. Jax also got tagged with the blown save, his fifth, which was a surprise to me after the season he has had.
-The batter that Duran hit with a pitch was none other than ex-Twin Robbie Grossman. As all Twins fans know, Grossman always finds a way to get on base. He has a career on-base percentage of .346.
-About the photo: My son and I visited Centralia, Washington, on Saturday to do some shopping and peruse the antique stores and malls that the downtown area is known for. In one of those stores, we came across a box of baseball tokens, something the owner told us were popular in the 1980s. I had never seen one before, and lo and behold, we found one of Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek, looking more like a hockey player than a first baseman.
As I’ve said before and will say again: You never know when you’re going to have a Minnesota Twins moment.
-A little history: On Sept. 7, 1954, the Philadelphia Athletics and the Washington Senators gathered at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., and entertained (or not) 460 fans.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
“The Washington Senators pushed over a run with two out in the eighth inning today, and floored the Athletics in Philadelphia’s last game of the season at Griffith Stadium, 5-4.
It was a make-up game, compensating for a 4-4 tie played Aug. 12 at Connie Mack Stadium, and consensus was that the two clubs should have forgotten the whole matter. Only 460 turned out for the occasion.”
The (Washington, D.C.) Evening Star
“Figures, unless tucked into bathing suits, can be boring, but the officials aren’t finding them that way at Griffith Stadium these days.
“The figures being studied there relate to the Senators’ home attendance, shockingly low and indicative of sharply diminished interest in the club. A smattering of 460 fans—366 in the lower deck, 67 in the upper deck and 27 in the bleachers saw the Senators edge the Athletics, 5-4, yesterday.
“It’s believed to be the smallest gathering to witness a major league game here since Griffith Stadium was erected 43 years ago, and possibly since Washington became part of the American League in 1901.”
Sources: MLB.com, Newspapers.com