BALTIMORE – Faced with unusual circumstances, the Twins tried an unconventional pitching plan on Sunday. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Neither pitcher in a “piggyback” plan fared well as the Twins let an early lead get away in an 8-6 loss to the Orioles at Camden Yards.
Starter Bailey Ober lasted four innings, and Mick Abel threw 3 1/3 behind him, but neither pitcher was especially sharp as Minnesota dropped the rubber game of its opening series. Three outs on the bases proved costly as the Twins jumped to an early lead but couldn’t add on enough to stave off a Baltimore comeback.
Two challenges faced the Twins entering Sunday’s game. One of the issues was a common one for all teams at this time of year: off days. The Twins have two in the first six days of the season, making it complicated to use all of their starters while keeping them all on an every fifth or sixth day rotation.
The other was more bespoke: Ober remains a bit behind his rotation mates in building up for the season. He made only four starts in Spring Training, and did not pitch more than 4 1/3 innings in any of them. He’s still looking to lock his mechanics back in after a rough 2025. So asking Ober to go too deep into the game against a dangerous lineup in a hitters’ ballpark was a tough challenge.
The solution? Use two starters on one day. The Twins got four innings out of Ober before turning to Abel, who was their best starter in camp and will be in the rotation when the schedule evens out some.
“We weren’t going to talk about it, publicly talk about it,” manager Derek Shelton said. “But with the fact we had the two off days when we did, and the fact Bailey was a little bit behind, working on his delivery and we weren’t going to just stick Mick squarely in the bullpen. We made it a while ago.”
Following an off day Tuesday in Kansas City, the Twins have 15 consecutive games, meaning that the rotation should settle in as normal with Abel pitching on a five-day turn. It’s even possible that at some point they’ll choose to call up a sixth starter. But for the season’s first week, the call was made to make sure Ober and Abel both got innings on Sunday.
It even turns out that the last day of Spring Training was preparation for this game. Minnesota brought Abel in to pitch in the fifth inning against the Red Sox on Tuesday, with the stated reason being that the club wanted its relievers to see big leaguers before Boston removed its regulars. But it also served as a dress rehearsal for Abel to pitch bulk innings in relief.
Ober dodged hard contact for three scoreless innings before finding trouble quickly in the fourth. Two singles brought up Tyler O’Neill, who jumped a 3-1 sinker over the middle of the plate to turn a 4-0 Twins lead into a one-run game.
The veteran averaged 89.8 miles per hour on his four-seam fastball, slightly down from where he was last year but up from his last couple of Spring Training starts. However, he induced only two swinging strikes on 27 swings – both on his signature changeup.
“I just fell behind O’Neill and gave him too good of a pitch 3-1,” Ober said. “I’d just like to locate that pitch a little better. Maybe get a different result, get a ground ball double play, out of the inning. But I’m fine with those two singles. I felt like I threw well the whole day. The only thing I’d take back is just that at-bat to O’Neill and just being a little better with two strikes.”
Abel, meanwhile, struck out three of the first six batters he faced but got into trouble as the outing went on. A two-out walk led to a pair of doubles and two runs in the sixth before a three-run eighth put the game out of reach. Abel lasted 3 1/3 and struck out four, but also issued four walks and allowed eight hits.
“I was getting ahead early and did a good job of that,” Abel said. “I think I could have done a much better job of executing with two-strike counts. Whether it was just a ball too far off the plate or the wrong pitch to the wrong guy, I could have been a lot better with knowing what was going on.”