Santana drives in go-ahead run, another quality start for Ober as Twins beat Rangers

Ober turned in his 10th straight quality start as the Twins took the series opener.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober (17) pitches against the Texas Rangers during the third inning at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Aug. 15, 2024. / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Carlos Santana hit a sacrifice fly to right field to plate the go-ahead run in the ninth inning of a 3-2 Twins win over the Texas Rangers after Bailey Ober battled through a rough first inning to turn in his 10th straight quality start Thursday night in Arlington, Texas.

Tied 2-2 with one out in the top of the ninth inning, Matt Wallner and Manny Margot drew back-to-back walks off Rangers reliever Kirby Yates. Wallner and Margot both advanced on a wild pitch during Santana's at-bat, and Santana brought Wallner home with his fly ball to right field. 

Jhoan Duran sent the Rangers down in order in the bottom to pick up his 17th save of the season.

While it was Ober’s 10th straight quality start, it didn’t come easy. Ober issued a pair of walks and surrendered a pair of runs in the first inning as the Rangers (56-66) got an RBI single from Adolis Garcia and a sacrifice fly from Josh Jung. But Ober only surrendered the pair in his six-inning start.

Ober turned what appeared to be a short day into yet another quality start, allowing just four hits and no runs the rest of the way. He gave up seven hits in all while fanning three across his six innings.

And the Twins (68-53) quickly got the pair of runs back during the second inning. Willi Castro hit a leadoff, 386-foot solo homer, and Kyle Farmer followed up with a “Little League home run,” hitting a deep ball to center field and scoring after a weird bounce resulted in an error on Leody Taveras.

Kyle Farmer motors all the way around the bases 😤 pic.twitter.com/oq8q5rNHr5

— MLB (@MLB) August 16, 2024

There was little offense happening after that. Rangers starter Cody Bradford also only allowed those two runs off six hits while fanning a pair across six innings. Jose Leclerc and Walter Pennington pitched scoreless seventh and eighth innings, respectively, to keep things knotted up.

Griffin Jax pitched a shutout seventh inning for the Twins, and Jorge Alcala pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, touching 100 mph on several of his fastballs during the frame before Duran got the save.

The Twins and Rangers meet for the second of their four-game series at 7:05 p.m. Friday.