Twins pitcher Bailey Ober makes variety his strategy in Grapefruit League appearance

FORT MYERS, FLA. — Here are Bailey Ober’s first seven pitches in his start against the Braves on Friday: fastball, fastball, changeup, slider, sinker, sweeper, curveball.

“That was the plan. I told [catcher Ryan Jeffers] to just mix everything, just get work in and get reps with every single pitch,” Ober said after allowing one run over four innings in the Twins’ 7-1 Grapefruit League win at Hammond Stadium. “Kind of throwing the kitchen sink at them and just seeing what happens.”

What happened was the Braves collected six hits off that menagerie of pitches, but other than Jarred Kelenic’s home run on a middle-of-the-plate fastball, none of them advanced as far as third base.

“Bailey looks good,” said bench coach Jayce Tingler, who managed the Twins’ split-squad home game. “Threw a ton of strikes, filled up the zone, exactly what you want to see from him.”

The Twins scored in four of the first five innings against Atlanta starter Reynaldo López, the former White Sox righthander who owns a career 4.67 ERA in 25 appearances against Minnesota.

The Twins combined good hitting and kindness from Rays starter Shane Baz to take an 8-1 lead in Port Charlotte, Fla. But the Rays rallied at Charlotte Sports Park, and the split-squad road game finished in a 9-9 tie, the second time the teams have finished deadlocked this spring.

Baz walked three Twins and hit a batter in the Twins’ four-run first inning, then they added two more runs in the second. The lead grew to 8-1 in the third when Austin Martin singled, stole second and scored on a groundout.

David Festa gave up one run over the first two innings before Tampa Bay struck for four runs in the third.

“Executionwise, when I got to two strikes, I was uncharacteristically bad,” Festa said. “In the third inning, I got a little too predictable, with three changeups in a row or three sliders in a row. Stuff that I’m not usually doing out there.”

Joe Mauer reported to Twins camp Friday, his first day in his new role as one of the team’s special assistants. He’ll help with drills, do a little coaching and offer free advice from a Hall of Famer.

With Mauer’s presence, the Twins’ roster of special assistants owns a whopping 15 major league batting titles, surely a record: Rod Carew (seven), Tony Oliva (three), Mauer (three), Justin Morneau (one) and Michael Cuddyer (one). Almost as remarkable, Twins radio analyst (and former manager) Paul Molitor, a two-time batting-title runner-up, collected more hits during his career (3,319) than any of them.

Minor league righthander Marco Raya, one of the Twins’ top pitching prospects, is listed among the pitchers available for Saturday’s game with the Red Sox. Raya suffered a strained left quadriceps 10 days ago but has apparently improved enough to resume pitching.