Bailey Ober throws four innings, collects a hit as Twins beat Cardinals

Aug. 1—ST. LOUIS — Being a pitcher — and a rookie pitcher at that — Bailey Ober, naturally, does not own his own bat. So when it came time for Twins starters to start preparing for interleague play, Ober was presented with an array of them to choose from.

"Of course I'm going to pick the one that's Nelson Cruz('s)," Ober said. "Why wouldn't I?"

Cruz's bat had some luck in it for Ober, who sliced a single to right field after taking a big hack at the previous pitch in his first career at-bat. It was one part of an all-around solid day for the pitcher, who threw four strong innings in the Twins' 8-1 win over the Cardinals on Saturday night at Busch Stadium.

With the trade deadline behind them, the Twins have firmly entered the evaluation portion of their season, a time when their younger players will be seeing plenty of opportunities to get out and play. Ober, who got a chance to slide into the Twins' rotation two months ago in favor of Matt Shoemaker, has been making the most of his chance.

"You can see him maturing in some ways before your eyes," manager Rocco Baldelli said. " ... This is a guy that pays attention. Bailey knows what he's trying to do when he comes to the ballpark. He's trying to learn something every day. He's trying to pick up little nuggets. He's trying to watch people who do it the right way and he's been taking advantage of those things very, very well."

And, of course, he's trying to pitch well with the bullets that he has.

The Twins (44-61) have been carefully monitoring his workload after the pandemic wiped out the minor league season last year, and in response to previous injury issues — Ober underwent Tommy John surgery while in college and had an ulnar nerve subluxation while in the minors — that he has dealt with.

On Saturday, that meant removing him for a pinch hitter after four innings and 64 pitches. To that point, Ober had given up just four hits to the Cardinals (52-52), including three in his last inning. Had that situation not arose, Baldelli said the rookie might have gotten one more inning.

"I understand what's going on right now. It's something that they've been in constant communication with me, so it's not super surprising when that happens," Ober said. "Obviously, I want to keep going, I want to go every single inning and try to beat these guys late in games. But it makes sense. Especially with my history and not playing last year, so it's understandable."

Instead, he departed early, feeling good about the four innings he did throw. Ober was pleased with his control, and his ability to get ahead of hitters on Saturday.

He pitched with a lead the entire game, as the Twins scored a pair of runs in the first inning and added five more in the third, putting the game's outcome out of question. Ryan Jeffers hit a three-run blast to break the game open, and Luis Arraez, in his first game back since straining his knee, drove in a pair of runs. Miguel Sanó and Jorge Polanco each collected a pair of hits in the game, too.

But perhaps it was Ober's hit that brought some of the most excitement to the dugout on Saturday.

"Hitters like that don't grow on trees," Baldelli joked.