The Minnesota Twins will look to build on their offensive explosion in the series opener when they visit the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.
After losing 13 of 16 games to fall into last place in the American League Central, the Twins have won two in a row for the first time since a four-game run from April 11-14.
Minnesota posted an 11-3 victory in the series opener on Tuesday in which every hitter in its starting lineup either drove in a run or scored. Brooks Lee had three hits, drove in three and scored twice.
“Brooks had a really nice game,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He had the base hit in the first and then the double. He just controls the at-bats. It doesn’t look like he gets sped up very much.”
Minnesota will turn to Bailey Ober (3-1, 3.55 ERA) to start on Wednesday. Fellow right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-3, 8.23) is slated to start for Washington, but the team may opt for an opener ahead of him.
Ober will look to pick up where he left off in April. In his past three starts, the 30-year-old has allowed a total of three earned runs on 10 hits over 18 1/3 innings. Last Thursday, he allowed one run on four hits in a 7-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ober is not throwing as hard as he once did, but he has been very effective, allowing more than three earned runs in only one of his seven starts.
“People are trying to throw as hard as they can all the time. Right now, obviously, I don’t have my best velo,” Ober said. “Being able to mix off-speed to get it to my location, getting the changeup down, and when needed, throw some fastballs up and in, and try to get guys off balance. That’s the name of the game.”
Ober won his only career start against Washington, allowing one run over 5 2/3 innings in a 3-1 victory on April 23, 2023.
Mikolas, 37, has lowered his ERA more than three full runs over his past three appearances, two of them coming after an opener kicked things off. On Thursday against the Mets, Mikolas started and gave up three earned runs on three hits in a four-inning stint.
Mikolas is 0-1 with a 3.09 ERA in two starts versus the Twins.
Other hitting stars for the Twins on Tuesday included Byron Buxton, who belted a three-run homer in the eighth inning.
Trevor Larnach singled in the third inning to extend his career-best on-base streak to 19 games.
Larnach, who added a two-run double on Tuesday, has four doubles, a triple, a homer, 13 walks, 10 runs and nine RBIs during the streak.
Curtis Mead and Jose Tena had two hits apiece for Washington, which fell to 4-13 at home after taking an early lead.
“The first couple of innings we had traffic. It just felt like we couldn’t get that big hit,” Nationals manager Blake Butera said.
James Wood had an RBI double and has reached base safely in 11 of his last 13 games.
“Woody just misses a homer to left twice,” Butera said. “One ball hit the top of the fence, the other they catch right at the wall.”
–Field Level Media
