Whether it was before his injury or after it, starting pitcher Bailey Ober has simply not found the form that saw him win 12 games last season and pitch to a 3.98 ERA across 178-plus innings with 191 strikeouts.
And again that 2024 form was nowhere to be seen on Monday as he coughed up four quick runs, including two more homers, to give him a team-leading 29 on the season.
Ober did not exit with a decision, but he created a quick hole that the Twins finally climbed out of to take a 5-4 lead in the seventh inning. Reliever Justin Topa then gave it all back with two runs in the eighth and the Chicago White Sox finally prevailed 6-5 in Game 1 of their four-game series.
Topa took it on the nose in this one, blowing the save (his third) and absorbing the loss to fall to 1-4.
The Twins will try again on Tuesday. Simeon Woods Richardson gets the ball.
Extra innings…
–The Twins are 62-75. The South Siders are 50-88. This is not a marquee matchup of two good teams.
–Ober’s line: Four runs allowed on six hits, including the two home runs, across five innings with two walks and three whiffs. He is 4-7 this season with a 5.23 ERA.
–Three other Twins pitchers made scoreless appearances in Monday’s game: Kody Funderburk, Genesis Cabrera and Travis Adams.
–The Twins scored five runs on eight hits, with extra-base hits coming from Byron Buxton, Eddie Julien, Matt Wallner and Royce Lewis who hit his 10th dinger of the season.
–Trevor Larnach had two more hits on Monday. He hit .297 in August.
–The Padres continue to lose, although Ex-Twin Luis Arraez was moved into the leadoff position in Monday’s game and he responded with three hits. The Friars still lost 4-3 to the Orioles.
–The Colorado Rockies fell to 39-99 after they lost 8-2 to the San Francisco Giants on Monday. More than 28,000 fans filled Coors Field to watch them lose. Win or lose, the fans seem to show up.