– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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BALTIMORE — It was fitting that the latest stellar start produced by Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober came at the former managerial home of Hall-of-Fame skipper Earl Weaver, who is credited with coining the old baseball adage that momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. After his team’s issues at the plate resurfaced less than 24 hours after a breakout performance, Ober’s dominance on the mound allowed Minnesota to continue its winning ways this weekend.
Ober twirled seven scoreless innings, and allowed just two hits, while Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran each pitched a scoreless inning to close out a 1-0 victory by the Twins over the Baltimore Orioles in a Saturday matinee inside Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Saturday. Left fielder Joey Gallo provided the only offense of the game with his second home run in as many days in the fourth inning, while right fielder Max Kepler made a spectacular sliding catch in the right field corner during the ninth inning to keep the Twins in front as the Orioles were threatening another one of their patented comebacks.
Three days after a shutout at the hands of Atlanta prompted a players-only meeting (and a berating of his team’s offensive approach by manager Rocco Baldelli), and just a day after his offense responded during an 8-1 victory to start the series against the Orioles last night, the Twins were stymied by Orioles starter Kyle Bradish, who did allow seven hits but just one run in six innings. Minnesota’s issues with runners in scoring position cropped up once more (0-for-4 in such at-bats today), and the team struck out a combined 12 times. But Ober’s masterpiece, his latest in a season that might garner him All-Star consideration, allowed Minnesota to squeak by with a close victory.
“That was a ‘wow’ game and performance,” manager Baldelli said about Ober. outing. “That was the best I’ve ever seen him throw. … It was almost a perfect outing, just watching him go to work like that. It was great. I can just keep talking about it. He was phenomenal.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Saturday afternoon’s contest, with all photos taken by DC-area photographer Elliott Brown. After clicking on the first photo to enlarge the picture, make sure to press the left and right arrow buttons to scroll through the rest of the pictures. There are 25 pictures in total.
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