What better time to test him than to put him out there in a close game where 2-3 innings against a so-called weaker team would be a goodtime to reinroduce him to major league play.

Wsa there a reason you dragged out Thielber, Jax and Lopez AGAIN after they pitched the night before, and NOT WELL putting eight Royal runners on base. If you don't trust the arms in the bullpen in pretty much any setting, why are they there. Sometimes the Twins can be so frustrating. He then ripped a line drive (106.6 MPH) to right field with men on in the fifth, only for the suddenly ascendant Nick Pratto to make a great diving catch. Jorge Polanco stays hot but confusion leads to baserunning blunderĪhead in the count to the wild Keller, Polanco ripped a 3-1 fastball deep to the right field corner, where the ball landed on top of the wall’s edge, inconceivably bouncing back into play where a trotting Polanco was tagged out at second base. He ended up walking five on the night in addition to five hits and the aforementioned wild pitch, channeling a little Sam Deduno magic to avoid giving up any significant damage. Kepler was erased on a Carlos Correa double play, though, and Keller began his hi-wire act from there, stranding runners in scoring position in the second and third before starting to unravel in the fourth when he walked two and unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Buxton to score the game’s first run. Royals’ starter Brad Keller faces his control demons, sort of winsĬoming into play with a solid-looking 3.96 ERA, Keller quickly showed why his walk rate is over seventeen percent, walking Max Kepler to lead off the game. Let us not forget Kepler was a league average hitter in 2022 before attempting to play through a broken toe that tanked his season numbers, a fact conveniently forgotten by. If he remains healthy, a three WAR season seems quite attainable which suddenly makes his 8.5M salary look positively valuable. 800 after adding two hits, a hit-by-pitch and a walk today, while continuing to play excellent defense in right field. Ignoring the pleas of one Aaron Gleeman, the Twins have held on to Max Kepler despite their plethora of promising left-handed corner bats. Max Kepler continues to show why he should be a part of the team’s plans The Royals are the worst offense in the league by runs scored, so it will be telling to see how Ober fares against a collection of better lefties. He was lifted after a two-out single to another lefty, Nick Pratto in the fifth. That eventually hurt him in the fifth when he gave up a hard single to Nicky Lopez for the Royal’s first run. Throughout the outing, his changeup was floating outside of the zone, or hanging in the top portion of the strike zone, leading to some hard contact from left handed batters. Not to be outdone, Sal Perez went down swinging on a slider two feet outside to finish the inning.

up with a high-and-tight fastball, striking out in comical fashion. SP: Bailey Ober 5.2 IP 4 H 1 ER 2 BB 6 SO (88 pitches, 55 strikes 62.5%)īottom 3 WPA: Jhoan Duran (-0.311), Trevor Larnach (-.230), Joey Gallo and Jorge López (-0.180)īailey Ober makes another solid cold weather startĬalled up to replace the injured Kenta Maeda, Ober started off the game by tying Bobby Witt Jr.

Fastball 2 games