Bailey Ober had just faced Toronto in his last start Sept. 18. That went smoothly for three shutout innings until he combusted in the fourth, allowing two homers and four runs.
So before a rematch, Ober went back to the tape and realized he needed to mix up his pitch selection and keep Toronto off balance to avoid a similar fate. On Friday, his usual go-to fastball was scarce, replaced by more of his slowest pitch, the curveball.
It worked. The Twins won 3-1 in front of an announced crowd of 18,861 at Target Field. Ober never faced more than four batters in an inning, putting together five consecutive clean innings with six strikeouts.
His one flaw was on a ball Marcus Semien hit into the bullpen in the sixth inning. But that was the wild-card hopefuls' only offensive production of the night. Not even Triple Crown contender Vladimir Guerrero Jr., could manifest something, as he went 0-for-4, struck out once by Ober.
"Honestly, it kind of excites me," Ober said of pitching to an MVP candidate. "It makes me want to go out there and throw to those guys. I want to face the best of the best, and right now, he's having probably the best offensive season this year out of anyone. It's very impressive to see him swing the bat and when he makes contact. It's very loud and very hard. Going up and trying to do everything I can and have pretty good success against him, it's pretty cool."
A big third inning was all the Twins needed to establish a lead. Andrelton Simmons, at the bottom of the batting order, drew a walk to start. Luis Arraez hit a triple that dribbled all the way to the right-field corner, giving Simmons time to run home while Arraez scampered to third.
Byron Buxton smashed a two-run home run to center field next, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.
All those runs came against former Twins pitcher Jose Berrios, who started at Target Field for the first time as a visitor. He went six innings, allowing five hits and two walks and striking out 10.
