A wasted quality start on Tuesday was followed by a wasted quality start on Wednesday, but on Thursday Bailey Ober’s quality start finally did not go wanting as the Twins poured it on late and the bullpen held the line in the team’s 7-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
You read that correctly: the bullpen didn’t screw up.
Ober improved to 3-1 with a 3.55 ERA after he allowed just two runs on four hits across six innings with two walks and two whiffs.
Byron Buxton led the way on offense by nearly hitting for the cycle after he connected for a single, double and home run with two runs scored and an RBI in the win.
But the most important part of the game, in light of what happened in losses to the M’s on Tuesday and Wednesday, is that the bullpen delivered a clean sheet after Ober’s exit.
Relievers Anthony Banda, Andrew Morris and Justin Topa worked three scoreless innings, which is a huge relief after suffering through late-inning collapses earlier in the week.
To wit:
- The Twins took a 3-2 lead into the 9th inning of Wednesday’s game, then watched as the M’s rocked relievers for three runs in the top of the inning for a 5-3 win.
- The Twins and M’s were tied at 1-1 in the 6th inning on Tuesday and then the bullpen served up a run in the 7th, three in the 8th and two in the 9th for a 7-1 defeat.
Simeon Woods Richardson gets the ball Friday.
Extra innings…
–On Wednesday, starter Taj Bradley allowed just two runs across seven innings with seven strikeouts and yet exited with no decision.
–And on Tuesday, starter Joe Ryan served up two runs across six innings and lost, falling to 2-3 with a 3.76 ERA.
–Given the state of the Twins bullpen I wouldn’t be surprised if the team had a number of starting pitchers with losing records and low earned run averages.
–Now that the Blue Jays are at Target Field, the team is bound to face ex-Twin and closer Louis Varland, one of several relievers the Twins inexplicably got rid of last season. Varland was recently named to that role and has so far embraced it. In a 3-0 win over the Red Sox on Tuesday, Varland fanned the side in the 9th on 15 pitches to pick up his fourth save. That’s how it’s done, folks.