When Jose Altuve hit the second pitch of the game over the left field wall in fair territory on a slider up and on the edge of the strike zone for his third career homer off Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober, the odds were in Houston’s favor.
But Ober settled in, not allowing any more runs and completing four innings on 84 pitches to pave the way for five shutout innings from the bullpen.
Even though it was a mere four innings, Ober’s strong outing was a good sign for Minnesota and its fans after the 29-year-old righty's disastrous start against the St. Louis Cardinals, where he allowed eight runs in 2 2/3 innings while battling an illness, at Busch Stadium last Sunday. The Twins starter appears to be back to the version of himself that accumulated 6 bWAR over the past two seasons.
Bailey Ober headlines Twins' dominant victory vs. Astros
Dominant pitching, alongside a six-run fourth inning, led Minnesota to its third win of the season, 6-1, against the Houston Astros at Target Field on Saturday afternoon. If not for their offensive onslaught in the fourth, the Twins would be 2-6.
Minnesota’s monster inning started with Byron Buxton getting hit by a pitch on his left hand on a 2-2 count from Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti.
Luckily, Buxton eventually made the trot to first base and stole second to mark his second swiped bag of the season.
Given his injury history, Buxton staying in the game - especially given how he was repeatedly shaking his left hand in pain - caused a sense of relief and elation among Twins Territory.
Ty France followed a walk from Trevor Larnach by blooping a soft line drive in front of an inexperienced left fielder in Altuve, who mishandled the ball, allowing Buxton to score and tie the game.
After Willi Castro and Edouard Julien suffered outs, Jose Miranda launched a 389-foot, three-run home run to left center field to give the Twins a 4-1 lead. Arighetti’s night ended after Christian Vázquez followed Miranda’s big fly with a 100 mph double to left field.
Righty Taylor Scott relieved Arrighetti and immediately gave up a 100 mph RBI groundball double down the first base line just out of the reach of a diving Christian Walker. The final run of the game came after Carlos Correa chopped an infield single that Scott handled and carelessly threw out of Walker's reach at first. Buxton lined out sharply to center fielder Jake Myers to end the frame.
The first pitch of the rubber match between the Twins and Astros is scheduled for 1:10 p.m, CST on Sunday.