It used to be that when a starting pitcher really began to struggle the options looked like this: move him to the bullpen, skip a start, find a reason to use the injured list or send the pitcher down to the minor leagues. Or, in the current postmodern version of our game, there’s always the ability to pair the starting pitcher with an opener.
I imagine some, if not all of those options, are on the table for Bailey Ober who had another terrible outing on Saturday after he served up four more dingers en route to a 10-5 defeat to the Detroit Tigers.
Ober had a lousy June, losing five games with an ERA of 9.00 while also giving up 14 home runs.
“He was taken deep 14 times, a new* franchise record for any month and the third-highest total in Major League history, behind only the Senators’ Pedro Ramos in 1957 and the Phillies’ Kid Carsey in 1894,” MLB.com reports.
The Twins go for the series win on Sunday. Chris Paddack gets the ball opposite Tarik Skubal. Ugh.
Extra innings…
–Tough-luck pitcher extraordinaire Pedro Ramos, who spent most of his career with the sad-sack Senators and the Twins in 1961, served up 17 home runs in June 1957, including four on June 13 to the Kansas City Athletics, according to Baseball-Reference.com.
Incredibly, the Washington (D.C.) Daily News, a tabloid, couldn’t be bothered to mention the home runs, but did mention that Ramos was in a foul mood. And who wouldn’t be, right?
The cold war started in the second inning when (pitcher Jack) Urban dusted off Ramos. Cuban Pete, disturbed at being a target for a hurler just three days removed from (a minor league team in) Denver, expressed his displeasure. After flying out, Ramos offered Urban additional stern advice on the way to the dugout.
-Ramos would go on to allow 43 home runs that season, which was tops in the majors.
-Byron Buxton had another all-world kind of day on Saturday. He had three hits, including his 19th home run, scored two runs, drove in two more and stole his 15th base of the season in 15 attempts.
*This does not appear to be a new record, but a tie of an existing record held by former Twins pitcher Bert Blyleven, who served up 14 long balls in May 1986, according to The Athletic’s Aaron Gleeman. A check of Baseball-Reference.com also confirmed the unfortunate statistic.
Source: Newspapers.com