Twins lose to Brewers 7-3 as manager Rocco Baldelli's bullpen decision backfires

MILWAUKEE – Twins starting pitchers have thrown the third-most innings in the major leagues this season, but they probably could have used a few more from Bailey Ober on Tuesday night.

Ober, who allowed two hits and two runs in five innings, was lifted for righthanded reliever Dylan Floro in the sixth inning. Floro gave up two sharp hits in his first three pitches and the inning snowballed from there in the Twins' 7-3 loss to the Brewers at American Family Field.

"I was expecting to go back out for the sixth," Ober said. "I was about to take a couple steps out of the dugout. They told me to stay put and someone else was coming into the game."

Ober, who allowed a two-run homer in the first inning, had retired his last eight batters and exited after 78 pitches.

The Twins are looking for small ways to limit Ober's innings after he pushed past his single-season career high. He hasn't pitched beyond five innings in any of his last five starts. He's thrown 136 innings between the majors and Class AAA this year after pitching 72 innings in 2022 and 108 innings in 2021.

"We're trying to make the playoffs and win in the postseason," Ober said. "That's our plan and that's what I want to do. That's what I plan on trying to do. I'm not really worried about what their ideas are or what they're planning for me throughout the rest of the season. I can't control that. They're going to do what they want to do. I'm just going to try to take the mound and get some wins."

For the second start in a row, Ober matched his season high with three walks. He walked only six batters in a 10-start stretch from June 14-Aug. 9.

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli conceded there was some consideration to Ober's total number of innings — "maybe a little bit," he said — but the Twins have targeted righthanded-heavy parts of the lineup for Floro, their only acquisition ahead of the trade deadline. Among the first five batters Floro faced, four were righties and one was a switch hitter.

"Truthfully, once we get into the sixth and seventh inning, the pitch count doesn't really matter to me that much," Baldelli said. "It's a tight ballgame and our bullpen is pretty fresh and ready to go. Are we going to send [Ober] out there every game, at this point in the season, and let him throw 100 pitches? He hasn't done that, anywhere near that, at any point in his career."

Combined with victories by Cleveland and Detroit, the Twins now lead the AL Central by five games over the Guardians and seven over the Tigers.

Floro surrendered six hits to the nine batters he faced, all singles. The first two hits, from William Contreras and Carlos Santana, were hard-hit missiles into the outfield. After a strikeout, nothing went right for Floro or the Twins' defense.

Mark Canha hit a game-tying RBI single to right field, an opposite-field ground ball.

Right fielder Matt Wallner's throw to third base deflected off Santana's foot and allowed Canha to advance a base. Tyrone Taylor followed with a bloop single into shallow right field to drive in the go-ahead run.

The Twins had Caleb Thielbar warming in the bullpen before the Brewers took the lead. Facing a lefthanded batter, Floro watched Brice Turang hit a soft line drive that should've been a double play, but the ball deflected off shortstop Carlos Correa's glove into left field for a run-scoring hit.

Brian Anderson, mired in a 2-for-21 slump, capped the rally with a two-run single on a ground ball up the middle against a drawn-in infield.

"You've got to find a way to minimize runs," Floro said. "One run would have been a lot better than five."

After Kyle Farmer gave the Twins a 3-2 lead with an RBI single in the fourth inning, they didn't have another baserunner reach second base.