OAKLAND, CALIF. – A lot of challenges can derail a pitcher during a start, from command issues to mechanical details. On Saturday, Bailey Ober’s biggest challenge was … killing time? Staying awake?
Probably. Like a lopsided hockey game where all the action is on one end of the ice, the Twins batted and batted and batted against the Athletics on Saturday, pausing only occasionally to allow Ober to make a brief cameo on the mound, just because rules require it.
The Twins piled up eight runs and 10 hits in the first two innings, Ober never faced more than four batters in any of his complete-game nine innings and the Twins enjoyed one of the most remarkable victories of their season 10-2 at Oakland Coliseum.
“I’ve seen some exceptional pitching performances, but it was just nothing but effectiveness, everywhere you looked,” manager Rocco Baldelli said of Ober’s 89-pitch masterpiece. “How many balls did he end up throwing? Nineteen? I mean, to throw fewer than 20 balls in a nine-inning complete game — amazing.”
Historic, too. Ober became the fifth pitcher in Twins history to pitch nine innings without reaching 90 pitches, and the first since Carlos Silva needed only 74 against Milwaukee in 2005. The last major leaguer to equal the feat was Miami’s Sandy Alcántara in 2019.
And Ober’s career-high-tying 10 strikeouts made the start even more unique. Since pitch counts were recorded beginning in the 1970s, only one other pitcher, according to MLB.com, has thrown nine innings with double-digit strikeouts on fewer than 90 pitches — Yankees righthander David Cone, during his perfect game July 18, 1999 against Montreal.
“I knew my pitch count was low, just because there were a lot of fast innings. But after the seventh inning, I walked past Pete [Maki, the pitching coach] and said, ‘I’m finishing it,’ ” Ober said. “That’s what my goal was.”
He had plenty of time to track his stats and make goals — heck, he had time to do a little shopping between innings — because the Twins offense unloaded on A’s starter J.P. Sears. Carlos Correa, Jose Miranda and Manuel Margot collected three hits apiece, Margot’s highlighted by a three-run homer, and every starter but Byron Buxton reached base at least twice.