Bailey Ober, his ERA inflated by more than a run over his past six starts, is going to get a break, the Twins decided Monday.
"The plan is for him to get a little bit of a breather right now," Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said. "I can't tell you exactly when his next outing will be, but it's not going to be five or six days from now."
But here's the catch: If he's not pitching for a while, he can't be using a roster spot. Ober was optioned back to Class AAA St. Paul, his spot in the Twins' rotation turned over to Dallas Keuchel, who has not allowed a run over his past 11 innings.
The Twins have fretted over Ober's workload — the righthander has far exceeded the 72⅔ innings he pitched in 2022, and his career high of 108⅓ innings in 2021 — but demoting him to the minors, even after allowing 22 runs and eight homers in his past 28 innings, still came as a shock.
"I can't say if he was shocked or not. Bailey is as professional a young man as you're ever going to find in this game," Baldelli said. "Today was not an easy conversation, but long-term, this move is going to benefit him. Although it's not going to be easy, in some ways, to handle it, I think he's going to be fine."
The addition of Keuchel, a former Cy Young winner attempting a comeback at age 35, however, has given the Twins a chance to limit Ober's innings, and reconsider whether he has a potential role in the postseason. Ober gave up five runs, including a grand slam, in four innings Sunday against the Rangers, but Keuchel pitched five shutout innings in relief, allowing the Twins to rally to a 7-6 extra-inning victory.
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