Bailey Ober logs quality start in no-decision

Ober fanned six in four scoreless innings before giving up a double and an RBI single in the fifth. He departed with one out, and the Twins pen proceeded to give up nine runs the rest of the way. Ober dropped to 7-5 with a 4.28 ERA. He hasn’t won since July 17, having gone 0-2 in his last eight starts despite maintaining his first-half performance. He’ll face the Guardians next weekend.

Ober needed just seven pitches in the fifth, but the Twins didn’t bring him back out for the sixth at 80 pitches on the day. Since his surprising two-hit shutout of the Marlins back on May 12, Ober has made 12 starts without ever getting fewer than 12 outs or more than 18. The quick hooks are a big part of which he’s just 1-1 in 10 starts since beginning of July. He’ll face the White Sox again next weekend.

Ober did his job. The Twins’ bullpen did not, giving up seven runs after he exited the game. His only blemish in run prevention was a solo homer from Fernando Tatis Jr. — one of two that Tatis hit in the game — and he gave up just three singles outside of that roundtripper. Ober will take a 4.49 ERA on the year into a scheduled start next weekend against the White Sox.

Ober gave up six hits, walked one and struck out four. The 31-year-old right-hander hasn’t won a start or recorded more than four strikeouts in a start since July 17 against the Cubs, a span of five starts. Ober has a 4.62 ERA. He’s lined up to face the Padres on the road on Sunday.

Ober allowed three homers in the game, and two of them came in the first two innings, both two-run shots. It’s pretty hard to overcome that, and while he gave up just one more run — another homer — the damage was done. Ober just hasn’t shown any consistency in 2026, and now has a 4.64 ERA on the season. He’s set to face Atlanta on Monday.

Ober was able to generate nine whiffs on 28 swings against his non-fastballs and hold the Royals to six hard-hit balls. The bad news is that one of those hard-hit balls, from Jac Caglianone, still hasn’t landed yet. This is about the best you could have hoped for from Ober, who lines up for a rematch against the Royals next Wednesday assuming nothing that happens at the trade deadline scuttles that.

By the end of the second inning, Ober had already faced 12 batters, thrown 53 pitches and allowed three runs. He let up one more in the fourth to close out this ineffective start. For a pitcher who doesn’t have much velocity to begin with, it was down even further in this one. His fastball averaged 87 mph – yes, averaged – and he didn’t crack 89 mph one time. It’s practically impossible to be effective in this day and age with that low of velocity and Ober showed why here. He left this start with an ugly 4.56 ERA, 60 strikeouts, and 22 walks through 80 innings on the season and is scheduled for a two-start week against the Royals and home and Mariners on the road next week.

Two walks allowed by Ober in the first inning proved costly after Michael Busch singled to drive home Pete Crow-Armstrong to put the Cubs up 1-0. Ober allowed a leadoff double to Seiya Suzuki in the sixth inning but would get Michael Busch to ground out before being pulled in favor of Tommy Nance. Nance would throw a wild pitch to allow Suzuki to score, with that run being credited to Ober. It was a solid night for Ober overall, who settled in nicely after allowing three baserunners to reach base in the first inning. He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in back-to-back games and will take the mound next on Wednesday against the Guardians.

He’ll be followed by Taj Bradley on Saturday afternoon and Zebby Matthews on Sunday afternoon at Wrigley Field. The expectation is that Joe Ryan would then start on Monday against the Guardians in Cleveland. Ober is coming off of a decent first half where he registered a 4.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and a 51/19 K/BB ratio over 71 2/3 innings in his first 13 starts.

It was Ober’s first start since May 30th as he’s been on the IL with elbow inflammation. The 30-year-old struck out five and walked one on Thursday while throwing 65 percent of his pitches for strikes. His four-seam velocity was 88.2 mph, which is not great but actually not too far off from what we’ve seen from him this year. The calling card on Thursday was a sweeper that posted a 45 percent swinging strike rate. He struggled to miss bats with anything else, and his velocity still scares us, so we would not be adding him with the Cubs up next.