Twins option Bailey Ober to Class AAA; Dallas Keuchel likely to take rotation spot

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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The Saints were off Monday, so Kody Funderburk was headed to the State Fair around 3 o'clock with some of his Class AAA teammates.

He never made it.

Saints manager Toby Gardenhire called the rookie lefthander with an urgent message: "You need to head over to the stadium right now," Funderburk said, and he didn't mean CHS Field. "The game is at 6:30."

Yes, five years after being drafted in the 15th round, Funderburk was headed to the major leagues on three hours' notice.

"A quick turnaround, definitely. It was a good thing, like ripping a Band-Aid off," he said. "Obviously, I had the nerves and jitters, but I didn't have a whole lot of time to think about it."

Before he knew it, he was in a Twins uniform, taking Ober's roster spot and pitching two perfect innings against the Guardians.

Funderburk has put together a strong season in the Twins organization, holding batters to a .191 average, and righthanders to .184. The 26-year-old has allowed only one home run all season, and he has given up only four runs in his past 24 minor league innings.

Funderburk's presence give the Twins two lefthanded options in the bullpen, along with veteran Caleb Thielbar.

"It's going to be helpful. Having that different kind of look is nice, because you can attack some groups of hitters in certain ways," Baldelli said. "Caleb has the carry fastball and the slow curveball that he uses real well. Having Kody come into the bullpen with a sinker/cutter combination, it's just different. I think he's going to fit in well."

To make room for Funderburk on the 40-man roster, the Twins put righthander Oliver Ortega, out because of a back injury, on the 60-day injured list, effectively ending his season.