Win streak reaches five as Twins beat Angels 5-3 behind Bailey Ober’s stellar outing

ANAHEIM, CALIF. – It took the Los Angeles Angels 10 batters before one reached base against Bailey Ober on Friday and 17 batters before they produced their first hit.

Ober completed 7⅓ innings, matching the longest start of his career on a night the Twins had a shorthanded bullpen. He struck out a season-high eight. After all those highlights in a 5-3 victory at Angel Stadium, Twins manager Rocco Baldelli kept thinking about what Ober looked like in the clubhouse before the game.

Sick with a stomach virus, Ober sat at his locker trying to drink water and make sure medicine stayed down. The coaching staff kept close tabs on him to make sure he didn’t keel over. It didn’t reach the point where the Twins looked for another starter, but they weren’t sure what to expect from him.

“You kind of relax a little bit,” Ober said after the Twins extended their winning streak to five games, matching their longest winning streak since they won six games in a row from May 18-24, 2022. “I feel like you take pressure off yourself to perform because you know you’re not feeling great out there.”

Ober pitched into the eighth inning for the second time in his career, a much-needed effort for the Twins when relievers Griffin Jax and Brock Stewart were unavailable after pitching in the previous two games. Ober, who exited after giving up a one-out double in the eighth inning, surrendered three hits, three walks and two runs.

The Twins needed everything they received from Ober. Reliever Matt Bowman stranded two runners in the eighth inning with back-to-back strikeouts on called third strikes. Bowman recorded two outs but walked two in the ninth inning before Caleb Thielbar earned the save, inducing a groundout from major league home run leader Mike Trout with runners on the corners after giving up an RBI single to his first batter.

“[Ober] didn’t look sick, that’s for sure,” Baldelli said. “He pitched about as well as you can pitch and then stayed strong as the game went on. I mean I just kept watching and it just looked the same inning after inning.”

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One of the big questions hovering over the Twins all winter was how they would replace departed starters Sonny Gray and Kenta Maeda. Ober, aside from a horrid start in Kansas City during the club’s season-opening series, has been a beaming bright spot. He has given up four runs and 11 hits in his past 24⅓ innings (1.48 ERA) with 24 strikeouts.

Ober seemingly presented hitters with two options: Swing early in the count, when he often produced weak contact, or hitters could take their chances trying to hit his changeup, which was responsible for six of his eight strikeouts.

“He’s as consistent of a starting pitcher as I’ve ever seen,” Baldelli said. “I mean, there are some great starting pitchers that are out there that we’ve all been around and watched, but one thing Bailey does is he gives you a good start virtually every time he goes out there.”

Carlos Santana launched a slider over the center-field wall in the second inning, his second consecutive game with a homer, after falling in a 0-2 count and not chasing a couple pitches below the strike zone. Santana added an RBI single in a seven-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning.

Willi Castro produced three hits and two runs out of the ninth spot in the Twins lineup, which included an RBI double in the top of the ninth inning.