The alleged silver lining after Twins starter Pablo Lopez left his June 3 start with what was ultimately diagnosed as a significant shoulder strain was that Minnesota had multiple pitchers throwing like they belonged at the top of the rotation.
If the could just hit a little more to offset the loss of Lopez, things would be OK. Another injury to young starter Zebby Matthews complicated that plan, but really even after that things figured to be OK as long as Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Chris Paddack continued to deal.
Ryan has done reasonably well (four earned runs in 12 innings over two starts since Lopez was hurt). Paddack is 1-for-2, with the bad one being his latest outing (four innings, eight earned runs). But it’s Ober who qualifies as the biggest concern and the unfortunate culprit during a stretch that could have been merely difficult and now feels like a free-fall.
The Twins have lost eight of their last 10 games, with two of those losses coming in Ober starts where he allowed a combined 12 runs in 11⅔ innings.
There is plenty of blame to go around during that stretch, including a punchless offense during these last two losses and some bullpen woes as well. But the starting pitching, which has turned infielder Jonah Bride into one of the Twins’ busiest relief pitchers, largely has flailed.
Ober talked about how he has pitched through hip discomfort this season, offering a very telling quote after his last rough start.
“I think I’ll be fine,” Ober said. “I mean, obviously if I keep pitching like this, then probably not.”
And that’s it. That’s the whole season for the Twins, as Patrick Reusse and I talked about on Monday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
