The Minnesota Twins got a brilliant performance from Bailey Ober but a lack of offense combined with a shaky afternoon from the bullpen fueled a 3-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Saturday.
The bullpen came into the game tied at 1-1 in the sixth inning after Ober – who was called up to make the start after Kenta Maeda was placed on the injured list Saturday morning – allowed one run over 5.2 innings.
After Caleb Thielbar threw a scoreless 1.1 innings, the Twins took a 2-1 lead on Byron Buxton’s sixth home run of the season.
BYRON. BUXTON. BOMB. 💣@OfficialBuck103 || #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/jX3JMgPvgq
— FanDuel Sports Network North (@FanDuelSN_NOR) April 29, 2023
The lead didn’t last long as Griffin Jax walked Bobby Witt Jr. to lead off the eighth inning and Jorge López allowed an RBI single to Salvador Perez that tied the game at 2-2. Jhoan Duran entered the game in the ninth and struggled with his control before Edward Olivares scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch.
The bullpen’s woes compounded a rough afternoon for Minnesota’s offense. The Twins appeared to get on the board in the bottom of the first inning when Jorge Polanco hit a line drive that bounced on top of the right field wall. The umpires ruled that the ball did not go over the fence and Polanco was thrown out at second base.
Jorge Polanco thought he hit a HR and got thrown out at 2nd pic.twitter.com/7PHR9D4xB7
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) April 29, 2023
The Twins eventually got on the board when Buxton scored on a wild pitch from Mitch Keller in the bottom of the fourth, but the right-hander executed some damage control throughout the afternoon, giving up just one run over 5.1 innings despite allowing six hits and five walks.
The Twins rallied with back-to-back singles from Carlos Correa and Jorge Polanco in the bottom of the ninth but Scott Barlow struck out Buxton and got Trevor Larnach to ground out to earn the save.
The Twins fell to 16-12 on the season and will wrap up their four-game series with the Royals on Sunday afternoon when Sonny Gray (3-0, 0.62 ERA) takes the mound against Brady Singer (2-2, 6.67 ERA).
