Twins' rookie pitcher shuts down White Sox
MINNEAPOLIS - Rookie Bailey Ober pitched 5 scoreless innings for his first major-league victory, Max Kepler homered twice and the Minnesota Twins held off the White Sox 8-5 on Monday night.
Ober (1-1) hit the milestone in his seventh career start, with 7 strikeouts and 2 hits and 3 walks allowed. In two previous turns against the White Sox, he gave up 9 runs in 7⅓ innings.
Kepler hit a 2-run homer in the second. With an RBI single by Trevor Larnach and a 2-run triple from Nick Gordon, the Twins built a 6-1 lead and gave White Sox starter Dylan Cease (7-4) the hook in the sixth inning.
Then the AL Central leaders surged back with a 4-run seventh, getting a 2-run single by Leury Garcia against Caleb Thielbar and a 2-run triple by Yoan Moncada off Tyler Duffey.
Moncada was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a chopper to third for the first out of the inning, and then the Twins turned to their best reliever to take back control. Taylor Rogers got five outs, four by strikeout, in a superb six-batter appearance.
Hansel Robles pitched a scoreless ninth for his eighth save.
These rivals have had a tense season on the field, if not in the standings, from rookie Yermin Mercedes angering the Twins with a home run off a 3-0 pitch from position player Willians Astudillo in May to Josh Donaldson irritating the White Sox with an insinuation that the drop in spin rate on Lucas Giolito's pitches is tied to baseball's crackdown on sticky substances.
The White Sox brought a 14½-game lead on the last-place Twins into the series, having won eight of the first nine matchups this year by a cumulative 76-37 score, but Ober was up to the task. The 6-foot-9 right-hander set the tone by striking out the side in the first inning. He fanned Jose Abreu twice, before the slugger took Thielbar deep in the sixth for his team-leading 15th homer.
Cease beat the Twins last week with 3-hit, 2-walk ball over 6 innings, but he didn't have it this time. He lasted 5⅓ innings and allowed 6 hits and 3 walks.
Kepler recorded his 10th career multihomer game when he took Ryan Burr deep in a 2-run eighth that gave the Twins some room for Robles to work.
With the Twins left behind in the division race and likely headed for seller mode this month before the trade deadline, the occasion was merely symbolic.
Still, the gates at Target Field were open at 100% capacity for the first time since 2019, and a season-high crowd of 20,321 came out on a sweltering night that featured 10 free food stations around the ballpark for all ticketholders.