Twins Run Out of the Ballpark by Texas Rangers
The Minnesota Twins had very few highlights Thursday afternoon against the Texas Rangers. Starting pitcher Bailey Ober had one of his worst performances of the year. The Twins let up 10 runs while having two outs. They couldn’t finish innings with runs, and one of the worst batting teams in the Major Leagues scored 16 runs for the second time in three days in a 16-3 beatdown. All eyes were on the Twins’ starting pitching heading into the series, and Bailey Ober joined Simeon Woods Richardson in not answering the call. Ober pitched 4.2 innings, letting up six hits and seven earned runs. He also walked an astonishing six batters. For reference, Ober walked seven batters in all of May.
The problems started for Ober in the very first at-bat. Rangers shortstop Josh Smith demolished a ball over the right field fence to give Texas the quick 1-0 lead. Ober pitched the rest of the opening inning cleanly, and the Twins’ offense quickly responded. Byron Buxton and Ryan Jeffers took the first two at-bats for the Twins and reached on walks. Texas starter Patrick Corbin doesn’t have a high velocity on his pitches, meaning he’s reliant on working the edges of the strike zone, leading to more walks. With two men on, Carlos Correa hit an RBI single to score Buxton and give the Twins men on first and second with no outs in a 1-1 ball game. Unfortunately, the Twins did no more damage after Ty France and Willi Castro struck out and Royce Lewis popped out.
In the top of the second, the Rangers opened the floodgates. Starting with a one-out solo home run by Jake Burger, recapturing the lead for Texas. It was the damage done with two outs that cost the Twins. Adolis García earned a walk and then, through some fancy lead-off dancing, caused a balk by Ober and found himself in scoring position. Kyle Higashioka’s single then extended the Texas lead. Josh Smith then walked, putting two men on, which Wyatt Langford took full advantage of, hammering a ball beyond the fence for a 6-1 lead and four runs with two outs. Minnesota gave itself a golden opportunity to respond in the bottom of the inning. Brooks Lee singled, Jonah Bride walked, and Harrison Bader also singled, loading the bases for the Twins with no outs, with the top of the order coming up. Buxton was given the first opportunity one day after hitting a towering 479-foot homerun. He couldn’t repeat that performance and popped out to second base for the first out. Jeffers then came up and got rung up by Corbin on a fastball. Correa was the Twins' last hope after getting the RBI in the first. He suffered the same fate as Buxton, popping out as Minnesota wasted its opportunity.
The third and fourth innings went by with little noise. In the fifth inning, another home run for Texas by Evan Carter officially ended Bailey Ober’s day and extended the lead to 7-1. Sadly, in the first game since trading Jorge Alcalá to the Red Sox, the bullpen for the Twins had no success trying to pitch to Texas. Cole Sands finished Ober’s fifth inning but struggled when he returned for the sixth. Sands let up a lead-off single but followed with back-to-back strikeouts. Once again, Texas did its damage with two outs. The Texas Rangers hit four straight singles with two outs, singles that included three RBI and a 10-1 lead. Then Adolis García stepped up to the plate with two runners on against Joey Wentz for the Twins. He bashed the fourth home run of the game for Texas and their second three-run blast to put a pin on a six-run sixth inning. The Twins had a little bright spot in the bottom of the sixth. Ty France extended his on-base streak to 23 as a part of a two-run inning highlighted by a Willi Castro RBI double to make it 13-3.
Both teams made mass substitutions in the final few innings, and positional players took to the mound. Not even Jonah Bride could keep the Rangers down, allowing a three-run home run in the ninth capping a day and series to forget for Minnesota, dropping the game 16-3 while being outscored 34-13 over the series. The pitching woes speak for themselves, but also concerning is Minnesota's lack of clutch hitting. Thursday’s second inning highlights the problem. Loaded bases with zero outs, and the top of the order can’t even get a sacrifice fly. The Twins need to solve this problem fast because they play the AL West-leading Astros in Houston next. The series starts Friday at 7:10 p.m. CST.
