Bailey Ober is eager for another chance to show his capabilities.
The 6-foot-9 right-hander will get that opportunity when his Minnesota Twins square off against the Kansas City Royals on Saturday evening in Minneapolis.
Ober (4-6, 5.38 ERA) missed more than a month because of a hip injury. He returned Saturday, when he allowed four runs on six hits in five innings in a 5-4 road loss to the Cleveland Guardians. He didn’t figure into the decision.
Now, in front of a home crowd, Ober hopes he can help the Twins extend their three-game winning streak.
“I feel like I’m pretty close,” Ober said. “Probably like one more tweak and my velo will be back to the higher-end days where I’ve had last year. Physically, I’m feeling really good, like my stuff is really good.”
The Royals will try to spoil Ober’s optimism and pull even in the three-game weekend series.
Mike Yastrzemski and Bobby Witt Jr. homered in the series opener, but it wasn’t enough as the Royals fell 9-4. Kansas City is 3-4 since the trade deadline last week and has dropped two games below .500 as the team’s chances to compete for a postseason berth become increasingly tough.
Kansas City is four games behind the New York Yankees for the final American League wild-card berth and would need to pass New York as well as the Texas Rangers and Cleveland Guardians to make the postseason.
Royals left-hander Noah Cameron (5-5, 2.68 ERA) will try to stem the team’s slump on Saturday. He has 72 strikeouts in 87 1/3 innings during his rookie campaign.
In his most recent outing, Cameron allowed four runs on six hits in 6 1/3 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays in a 4-2 loss on Aug. 2. He was charged with the defeat in that start, which ended a streak of three consecutive wins over his previous four outings.
The 26-year-old Cameron has made one start against the Twins, on May 23 in a 3-1 loss. He allowed one run on four hits in 6 2/3 innings and walked one and struck out eight, receiving a no-decision.
The Twins’ batters will try to stay hot as they take on Cameron and the Royals. Four Twins drove in two runs apiece on Friday to claim the series opener. That included Ryan Jeffers, who went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Kody Clemens homered and drove in a pair of runs, and Luke Keaschall and Royce Lewis also drove in two runs apiece.
Royals right-hander Seth Lugo offered a cautionary tale to Cameron and other teammates on the Kansas City pitching staff who might go against the Twins, who were big sellers at the trade deadline and have rolled out a new lineup. Lugo took the loss Friday after allowing seven runs on nine hits in four innings.
“I feel like they have some younger guys that are excited to be in the big leagues, and they were letting off swings for just about every strike I threw,” Lugo said. “That’s something you just have to be aware of.”
Royals manager Matt Quatraro agreed.
“It was a tough night,” he said. “We got beat up pretty good. We didn’t swing the bats well. You don’t usually see guys squaring up Lugo. He didn’t have his best command or best stuff. Tried to keep fighting through, and we had a couple of opportunities later in the game. Just clearly not enough.”
Ober has started against the Royals 12 times in his career. He is 0-4 with a 5.37 ERA in those outings. He has walked eight and struck out 52, but he also has given up 10 homers in 57 innings.
–Field Level Media
