Texas Rangers rough up Twins, Bailey Ober to win series finale 16-3

The starting rotation, which carried the Twins to a 13-game winning streak last month that turned their season around, is now the team’s biggest concern.

Nothing went right Thursday for Bailey Ober, who surrendered a home run on his second pitch. He issued six walks in 4⅔ innings, two more than he has had in any of his other 101 career starts, plus he gave up six hits, seven runs and a career-high four homers.

It was a bad combination for Ober, and an embarrassing outcome for the Twins in a 16-3 drubbing from the Texas Rangers at Target Field. The Twins have dropped four of their past five series, and they were outscored 34-13 during their three games against Texas.

“It was a tough day out there,” said Ober, who added that he and his family received death threats on social media after his start. “I was struggling to find the [strike] zone, and then when I do, the ball is getting hit. So, yeah, it was a tough day.”

In the eight games since Pablo López exited with a shoulder injury, Twins starters have posted a league-worst 7.07 ERA across 42 innings. The Twins have lost three of their past eight games by at least 11 runs, asking position player Jonah Bride to cover five innings in blowouts that look more like football scores.

López and Zebby Matthews are on the injured list because of shoulder injuries. López is out until at least August, and Matthews might not return before the All-Star break after he was shut down from throwing for two weeks.

Ober, who has dealt with left hip discomfort dating to spring training, pitched with diminished velocity in his previous two starts that he blamed on disjointed pitching mechanics. His velocity returned to normal Thursday, but that was one of the few areas where he resembled his usual self.

Manager Rocco Baldelli said Ober’s hip was more of a maintenance issue, and “I wouldn’t call it an injury of any kind.” Ober, too, was confident he could continue to pitch through it.

“I think I’ll be fine,” Ober said. “I mean, obviously if I keep pitching like this, then probably not. I’ve been dealing with this since spring. I’ve been able to throw well, five quality starts in a row with the same stuff, so I feel like I’ll be able to do that. I’ve just got to get back to what I do, and that’s throwing strikes, getting ahead of guys, not walking anyone.”

Ober, who gave up a leadoff homer to Josh Smith to begin his afternoon, unraveled during a five-run, 41-pitch second inning. He had trouble finding his correct release point, he said, and only 16 of his 41 pitches were for strikes.

He gave up a solo homer to Jake Burger, who yanked a changeup over the left-field wall, then watched five straight batters reach base with two outs. Wyatt Langford punctuated the second inning with a three-run homer, pulling a sinker that hit the left-field foul pole.

“You’re going to run into weeks and even months that are not going to be the easiest time,” Baldelli said. “You’re not going to be able to rely on simply your top guys and your big-name players all the time. That’s actually the beauty of the game. We’ve already seen many guys on this team step up.”

The Rangers, who entered this week with one of the lowest-scoring offenses in the majors, scored six runs in the sixth inning against Twins relievers Cole Sands and Joey Wentz. Adolis García hit a three-run homer off Wentz, who walked three batters in his Twins debut after he was claimed off waivers Wednesday.

Danny Coulombe, who threw one pitch to record one out in the seventh inning, was the only Twins pitcher who didn’t give up a run.

“There are a lot of ups and downs in this game,” Baldelli said. “I wouldn’t call it great baseball this series. It wasn’t pretty.”

BOXSCORE: Texas 16, Twins 3

MLB standings

Down by five runs in the second inning, the Twins loaded the bases with none out against Rangers lefthander Patrick Corbin with the top of their lineup due.

It amounted to nothing. Byron Buxton, who walked and scored in the first inning, skied an infield pop-up. Ryan Jeffers struck out on a slider in the dirt. Carlos Correa, who hit an RBI single in the first inning, ended the threat with a pop-up when swinging at a down-the-middle sinker in a 2-0 count.

Corbin — enjoying a resurgence after going 31-63 with a 5.71 ERA over the past four seasons with Washington — retired 12 consecutive batters until the Twins scored two runs in the sixth inning. The Rangers, with a 13-run lead, used their own position player, Ezequiel Duran, to pitch a scoreless ninth.