Bailey Ober shook his Kansas City demons but it wasn’t enough as the bats once again fell silent.
Ober ran into trouble early. After getting Jonathan India out, the Royals followed with three straight singles to bring in a run, but Ober was able to get the next two batters to escape with minimal damage. Ty France led off the second with a homer for the second game in a row to bring the score back to even. The Twins were able to scratch across another in the sixth thanks to a Ryan Jeffers single, but weren’t able to add on.
Cole Sands came on in the seventh and his first stinker of the season. With one out, he hit Freddy Fermin and gave up singles to Drew Waters and Jonathan India to tie the game. Then, as the prophecy foretold, Twins nemesis Bobby Witt Jr. delivered a sac fly to give the Royals the lead which they never surrendered.
The Twins made some noise in the ninth with a one-out, pinch hit single from Mickey Gasper and Harrison Bader HBP to put the tying run on second with one out, but Matt Wallner and Willi Castro weren’t able to deliver and the Royals took the series 3-1.
It’s the latest in a string of frustrating losses for the Twins. They once again weren’t able to eclipse three runs, but still held the lead late and weren’t able to pull through. The Twins are 4-1 with four or more runs, and the loss today drops them to 0-8 when they don’t.
Let’s look at some positives though. In general, the quality of at-bats was significantly better in this game. They made Michael Wacha work through the early innings and saw a lot of pitches. Edouard Julien in particular is looking much closer to his 2023 version, taking pitches and driving the ball hard when he swings, even if the overall numbers aren’t there yet. Also, Brooks Lee is on a rehab assignment and we may be able to put ourselves out of our Jose Miranda-induced misery soon! A loss is a loss, but we move on.
STUDS
- Bailey Ober: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB (he did give up 10 hard hit balls but they found gloves so we’ll take it)
- Edouard Julien (STAY WITH ME): 1-3, 1 BB, 1K, crushed 2 balls and generally taking good ABs (I’m grasping at straws)
DUDS
- Cole Sands: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 K
- Jose Miranda: 0-3, error, removed from the the game for 29-year-old minor league journeyman Mickey Gasper with the game on the line, in case you were wondering about Rocco’s confidence in him