'I've felt great': Ober working through struggles

DETROIT -- The Twins have relied very heavily on Bailey Ober, who has been the hallmark of consistency throughout not just the 2023 season, but during his entire Major League career.

But does he have enough left in the tank to be at his best down the stretch?

Ober’s stuff has been trending up in his past few outings, but two of the toughest starts of his career have come in his past three appearances as he has plowed through his career high in innings pitched. The team’s positive momentum from the past week was nowhere to be found in a tough, sloppy 9-5 loss to the Tigers on Wednesday night at Comerica Park.

“We've got to play better than we did today,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. “Overall, our approaches at the plate were just fine. They weren't as good as they needed to be. We needed to be better defensively. And pitch better.”

The 17 hits allowed to Detroit were one shy of the most allowed this year by Minnesota pitching -- and the only worse performance came on July 29, against the Royals, in a game also started by Ober. The Tigers tagged Ober for 11 hits to match his career high (set in that Kansas City start), including at least one in each of the right-hander’s five frames.

Detroit struck first with an RBI single by Kerry Carpenter in the first inning, compounded by Max Kepler’s fielding error in right field. Run-scoring knocks by Riley Greene and Matt Vierling piled on in the second, and the first of two Spencer Torkelson homers came in the fifth inning to deal five runs (four earned) to Ober’s stat line, one shy of his career high.

“I just felt like I was missing too much of the plate,” Ober said. “Whenever I got into the zone, I was missing middle, and they were hitting balls where our guys weren't, landing a lot of singles. And then late in the game, they started hitting some stuff a little harder.”

Ober has allowed five or more runs in only four of his 50 career starts; two of those have come in this three-start stretch. Among his first 16 outings of the season, all but five were a quality start. He completed five innings in all 16 games and allowed more than three earned runs only once.

In the past three games, he has allowed 12 earned runs in 14 innings.

Given Ober’s background, it’s natural to wonder if the innings are taking their toll on his right arm. Wednesday’s outing extended Ober’s career-high workload to 108 2/3 innings in the Majors. Combined with his 17 2/3 frames with Triple-A St. Paul, that’s 126 1/3 innings this season -- well past the 108 1/3 that represented his previous professional high in 2021.

Due to persistent elbow issues stemming from inefficient mechanics that bothered him during his rise through the Minors, Ober maxed out at 78 2/3 innings in 2019, his third pro season -- not to mention losing the entire '20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But Baldelli said the Twins don’t see any reason to worry about that yet -- though it’s likely they’ll continue to monitor Ober down the stretch, as they did during his rookie campaign in 2021.

“It's just been so many good outings in a row that when you see a couple that don't go the way he wants, you pay attention to them, you try to figure out what's going on, you learn from them a little bit,” Baldelli said. “I don't see anything, though, as a whole.”

For one, the stuff has sustained. Ober’s fastball has averaged 91.2 mph this season, and his heater has averaged 91.7, 90.7 and 91.5 mph, respectively, in this three-start stretch. He has walked only one batter in those three starts against 17 strikeouts, including a season-high nine on Wednesday, so the command is still there.

Delivery-wise and mechanics-wise, Baldelli said the pitching group hasn’t flagged anything either.

So the Twins will continue to trust the track record -- and Ober is confident this is just a blip.

“The last three outings, I’ve felt great,” Ober said. “I’ve felt probably the best I’ve felt since Spring Training, and it’s probably been my toughest three outings of the entire year, so it’s a little frustrating. I’m trying to not think too much of it just because I’m feeling really good. The body feels great.”