Twins lose to Braves 10-6 as Bailey Ober gives up nine runs in two innings

Bailey Ober’s brief, ugly start Monday night was so calamitous and out of character, it almost made sense that warning sirens were echoing across downtown Minneapolis as he pitched.

Ober’s streak of 11 consecutive quality starts lasted only four batters against the Braves, and the top five Atlanta hitters went a combined 7-for-8 with two homers, three doubles and two walks. By the time the real maelstrom of wind and rain arrived, Ober had put the Twins in an eight-run hole en route to a 10-6 loss at Target Field.

The loss, the Twins’ sixth in eight games and sixth in a row to the Braves, dropped Minnesota to third place in the American League Central, 2½ games behind Cleveland and 1½ behind Kansas City.

“I feel like everything they swung at, they hit and put in play and found holes,” Ober said. “I just felt out of rhythm from the get-go and couldn’t get anything going.”

The Twins, who trailed 9-1 when play resumed after an 86-minute rain delay, fought back by adding runs in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings, including solo home runs from Kyle Farmer and Matt Wallner. All while the back of their bullpen gave up just one run, on a Trevor Richards wild pitch, over a combined seven innings.

BOXSCORE: Atlanta 10, Twins 6

MLB standings

It felt like such a missed opportunity. The Twins scored six or more runs for the 46th time this season; Monday’s game was only their sixth such loss. And to come in Ober’s start was shocking.

“His consistency is mind-blowing,” Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said shortly before Ober attempted to extend his streak to 12 consecutive quality starts. So imagine how mind-bending it must have been for Baldelli to watch Ober allow four runs to the first four batters.

“Definitely surprising,” Baldelli said afterward. “He’s been one of the better pitchers in all of baseball this year. Bailey’s had some starts where he’s had to work through the first inning or two, where he really looks for the feel for his pitches. Normally he comes around, finds it and pitches very well.”

Not this time. Whit Merrifield singled sharply to left-center to open the game, Jorge Soler walked, and Marcell Ozuna grounded a ball to center field to drive in Merrifield.

That brought up Matt Olson, who launched a high-and-tight cutter into the upper deck in right-center, 423 feet away. For the first time since June 9, Ober had allowed more than three runs in a start — and he hadn’t yet recorded an out.

Weirdly, he also had barely thrown his fastball, only twice in the first 20 pitches. “It’s just the report for these guys, that they hit heaters pretty well,” Ober explained. “Especially from the top of the lineup.”

Turns out, they crush other pitches, too.

Ober’s second inning, as storm clouds rolled in and Minneapolis’ weather-warning siren began wailing just down the street, was somehow worse. The righthander, whose ERA jumped from 3.54 to 4.06 in just two innings, retired the first two Atlanta hitters on routine groundouts, bringing up the top of Atlanta’s cobbled-together lineup again.

And it was just a replay of the first inning.

Merrifield doubled this time into the right-field corner, Soler walked again, and Ozuna doubled down the left-field line, scoring Merrifield. Olson lined a double into right-center, scoring a pair of runs, and Travis d’Arnaud blasted Ober’s next pitch, a high changeup, into the third deck in left field, 439 feet away.

Ober quickly recorded the third out, just as the high winds heralded the arrival of nasty weather, as if Mother Nature wanted to make things even worse for the Twins. He stomped into the Twins’ clubhouse “and threw some stuff,” he said. “I was pretty angry.”

The Twins had scored a run of their own in the first inning, when Manuel Margot doubled, stole third — he’s the only Twin to successfully swipe third this season, and has done so trice — and scored on Jose Miranda’s sacrifice fly.

But down eight runs against Atlanta lefthander Max Fried, the Twins took awhile to get acclimated again after sitting around and watching it rain for 86 minutes. Fried retired the first 10 hitters he faced post-storm, half of them by strikeout, and finished five strong innings to earn his first win since June 23.