Twins drop series opener as Braves beat up on Bailey Ober

Ober's streak of 11 straight quality starts came to an abrupt end Monday night.

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober (17) looks on after giving up a three-run home run against the Atlanta Braves in the first inning at Target Field in Minneapolis on Aug. 26, 2024. / Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

The good news is the Twins gained a half game on the Cleveland Guardians on Monday. 

The bad news is that wasn't because of anything they did on the baseball field. The Atlanta Braves pounced on Bailey Ober early, ending his 11-game quality start streak as the Twins fell 10-6 in the series opener in Minneapolis in a game that was delayed for 1 hour, 26 minutes due to weather. 

Regardless, the Twins were able to gain a half game on the division-leading Guardians, who were swept by the Kansas City Royals in a doubleheader Monday night in Cleveland. The Twins are now 2.5 games back of Cleveland and 1.5 games back of Kansas City in the American League Central. 

Ober entered Monday’s game on an 11-game quality start streak, one that was quickly ended in the first inning. Ober gave up a leadoff single to Whit Merrifield, walked Jorge Soler and gave up an RBI single to Marcell Ozuna. Matt Olson hit a 423-foot, three-run homer the next at-bat to make it 4-0.

MATT OLSON NO-DOUBTER#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/nUK3blTS2B

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 26, 2024

Manny Margot hit a leadoff double in the bottom of the first and was eventually brought home when Jose Miranda hit a sacrifice fly to get one back, but disaster continued for Ober in the second inning.

Ober got both former Twin Gio Urshela and Orlando Arcia to ground out, but gave up a double to Merrifield, walked Soler and gave up an RBI double to Ozuna. Olson hit a two-run double the next at-bat, and Travis d’Arnaud hit a 439-foot, two-run shot to right to make it a 9-1 Braves (71-60) lead.

d'Arnaud d'inger!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/PzQOxhCedy

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) August 27, 2024

Then storms flew over Target Field and the game was delayed for an hour and a half. Ober didn’t see the mound again after that, giving up nine runs off seven hits while fanning two across two innings as he fell to 12-6 on the season with the loss. Scott Blewett replaced him on the mound in the third. 

Braves starter Max Fried came back out after the delay and pitched a 1-2-3 second inning before striking out the side in the third inning. Fried went five innings in all, allowing four hits and three runs — one earned — while fanning seven to improve to 8-7 on the season with the victory. 

Merrifield was 5 for 5 with the double and two runs scored; Ozuna was 2 for 4 with the double and two RBIs; and Olson was 3 for 5 with the homer, double and five RBIs. Margot was a bright spot on a tough offensive night for the Twins, going 3 for 5 with the double and an RBI.

Blewett pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just two hits while fanning three, and the Twins (72-59) did finally plate a couple unearned runs off Fried in the fifth inning, cutting their deficit to 9-3.

But it was too little, too late, and the Braves got one back anyway when Arcia scored on a wild pitch from Twins reliever Trevor Richards in the sixth inning. While it was a mostly clean pair of innings for Richards, the wild pitch was his seventh in a Twins uniform since being acquired at the trade deadline.

Richards leads MLB with 13 wild pitches this season.

Royce Lewis hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning that made it 10-4. Kyle Farmer's solo homer in the eighth inning made it 10-5. Matt Wallner added a solo homer in the ninth that made it 10-6.

The Twins and Braves meet for the second of their three-game series at 6:40 p.m. on Tuesday.