Reusse: Twins have pitching, Byron Buxton and (perhaps) sage advice to draw on

Those of us who became sports fans when baseball was king in this country are often puzzled by the strategies employed in today’s game based fully on digital information.

On several occasions early in this Twins season, I have been forced to curse at various degrees of volume when observing these strategies.

Example: It is early in a ballgame, the opposition has runners at second and third with no outs or one, and manager Rocco Baldelli chooses to play the left side of the infield “up” to prevent a run.

This can’t be Rocco following an instinct. It has to be a suggestion from the probabilities offered by the computers.

This took place in Boston last weekend, with a multi-hopper going through the left side to give the Red Sox two early runs.

On Thursday, the Twins were home at Target Field, and this occurred in the third inning. Bailey Ober, all 6-foot-9 of him being willpower, had gotten out of a one-walk, two-hit second inning with a pair of strikeouts — limiting Baltimore to one run.

Then in the third, Jackson Holliday singled and Ryan O’Hearn hit a double-play ball to Brooks Lee at second base. Lee butchered it to put runners at the corners, a go-ahead run scored on a sacrifice fly, and then a double left runners on second and third with one out.

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And here it came: The left side playing up, greatly increasing the chances of a medium-hit ground ball putting the disadvantage at 4-1. Curses again, although being in the press box those required a reasonable level of decorum.

As it turned out, Ober again ended the scoring with two strikeouts.

So, this time the Twins twice got away with the infield up when a grounder could have scored two early runs — no harm done ... but it was the principle of the situation.

Another violation of personal irritants occurred with Baldelli’s use of the bullpen. This goes back to the golden days of Ron Gardenhire as manager (2002-14), as bullpen usage was on the upward journey to where it is now.

Gardy would lament having to “use his entire bullpen” to get a victory.

To which I would retort in casual conversation after the TV camera was gone:

“Rincon only had 10 pitches. You could’ve sent him out for a second inning.”

To which Gardy would respond: “Then I couldn’t use him tomorrow night, genius.”

Ober’s effort was as gutsy as it gets Thursday. He gave up eight hits, walked one and had to overcome the Lee error that could have led to a game-deciding inning.

Ober is a unique starter in the current big leagues and in Twins history. He doesn’t throw hard, yet he gets many of his outs high in the zone. And his changeup is shockingly effective.

Ober was horrendous in his first start, but he has now given up one earned run in six of his past seven games — with an ERA down to 3.50.

He was gone after five innings and 91 pitches, and then Baldelli went to his bullpen: Cole Sands, Justin Topa, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran.

Jax got the win and Duran a save, as Trevor Larnach‘s home run tied it in the sixth and the Twins won it when Lee’s two-out double keyed a three-run eighth.

Yes, but Rocco had to use most of his bullpen, with the formidable San Francisco Giants coming to Target Field for a weekend series. Right?

Not really. Topa cruised through three outs on seven pitches in the seventh. Coulda got a second inning out of Topa, Gardy … ah, Rocco.

Puzzlements aside, there are a couple of reasons to not join in the general disinterest the 2025 Twins are facing (after last season’s collapse):

• In the field, on the bases and at the plate, we are witnessing a Byron Buxton in the lineup and center field as we never could have anticipated seeing again. On Thursday, the astounding play came in the sixth, when Buxton made a bullet throw to get Emmanuel Rivera at the plate in the sixth inning.

• The Twins have a highly competitive pitching staff, with three top-flight starters (Ober, Joe Ryan and Pablo López), two OK starters (Chris Paddack, Simeon Woods Richardson) and a deep bullpen.

Plus, there is old-school strategic advice available if manager Baldelli feels the urge.