Polanco provides winning margin for Twins

Slugger's 7th HR in 13 games helps Minnesota capitalize on Ober's impressive start

August 11th, 2021

Call the rock of the Twins’ offense. His home run in the sixth inning helped Minnesota edge the White Sox, 1-0, at Target Field on Wednesday afternoon.

The Twins took two of three in the series and improved to 50-65. 

“This team is capable of doing a lot of things,” Polanco said. “We have good young talent, and we [can] just go out there and win every day.”  

The Twins and White Sox found themselves in a pitchers' duel. Minnesota plated the sole run when Polanco swung at the first pitch he saw from right-hander José Ruiz and hit the ball over the left-center-field fence. It was Polanco’s seventh home run in his last 13 games.

With two hits, Polanco raised his batting average to .274. He said he tries his best to make adjustments at the plate. But don’t tell him that he is the rock of the offense.

“I think everybody here is really good,” Polanco said.

But manager Rocco Baldelli was not shy about praising Polanco for his leadership during a disappointing season.

“There is a guy that has kind of been out there the entire time and through it all, the ups and the downs, good and bad, [Polanco] continues to produce. He does it very quietly -- in his own way. …

“He is a guy we have needed and relied on. I would say he has been a rock for us in a lot of different ways. In addition to what he does on the field, he is a wonderful human and teammate. He sets a really nice example for a lot of the young players. He is not afraid to work when he is not playing.”

Caleb Thielbar was the winning pitcher in relief of rookie right-hander , who had the best start of his career. Ober pitched 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball and had six strikeouts.

The only time Ober was in serious trouble was in the fifth inning. The White Sox had runners on first and second with one out, but Ober struck out Cèsar Hernández and Andrew Vaughn to end the threat.

Before facing Chicago for the fifth time this season, Ober looked at video of past games to help him figure out a game plan.

“Today I felt like I executed what I wanted to do the majority of the time, and good things happened,” Ober said.

Ober said he did what he wanted to do with his slider, which was clocked in the high 80s -- up about 4 mph from its usual velocity. He said he made a couple of tweaks from his last outing.

“I wanted to tighten it up, throw it a little harder and make it look like a fastball,” Ober said. “I felt pretty good. Some pitches moved the way I wanted to. I need to get a little more consistent. I was happy where the velo was.”

Ober threw 82 pitches and pitched into the sixth inning for only the second time in 13 starts. The way he was throwing, he could have pitched even longer. But he was on a pitch count, and he understood why he was taken out.

“I’m continuing to take care of myself. I feel good at the end of outings,” he said. “That’s what I’ve been doing. Hopefully, I finish like that the rest of the season.”

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Bill Ladson has been a reporter for MLB.com since 2002. He covered the Nationals/Expos from 2002-2016.