THE Minnesota twins will look for a fifth series victory in their six sets at home this season on Thursday afternoon against the San Diego Padres in the rubber game of a three-game series in Minneapolis
Right-hander Bailey Ober (2-0, 0.98 ERA) will make his fourth start of the season and the first of his career against the padres. Minnesota rebounded from a 6-1 loss to San Diego in Tuesday’s series opener by winning 4-3 in 11 innings on Wednesday
Alex Kirilloff, playing his fourth game since being recalled from Triple-A Saint Paul, drilled a single down the right field line off Domingo Tapia to lead autorunner Max Kepler from second place in the 11th inning on Wednesday . It was Kiriloff’s first career hit.
The Washington Nationals, which won two of three games April 21-23, are the only visiting team to win a series in Minnesota this season.
San Diego right-hander Yu Darvish (2-2, 3.19 ERA), who is 1-2 with a 2.73 ERA in four career starts against the Twinsstarts Thursday
THE padres will look to build momentum before heading to Los Angeles for a three-weekend series with the National League West leaders Dodgers
THE Twins, which leads American League Central, ended a three-game losing streak on Wednesday. Kepler homered, doubled and scored three times, while Carlos Correa hit an RBI brace off the fence at left center and also walked twice. Kirilloff finished with two hits and a walk
“It’s a really good win,” Minnesota manager Rocco Baldelli said. “The pitching came out and kind of took the bull by the horns. They’re a good team. We know that. The way we reacted after (Tuesday’s loss), couldn’t be happier to find a way, to want us (victory).”
Now the Twins look to the 6-foot-9, 260-pound Ober, who pitched seven shutout innings Friday in a 2-0 win at Cleveland. He allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out six
“I think everyone is watching the game from our dugout, we didn’t want to take their eyes off it,” Baldelli said of Ober after that game. “He was really something today. … When a guy takes control of a game like that, he can win a game for you himself. It was close to what happened today. “
San Diego, which has dropped three of its last four games, including a 5-2 punch and 10 innings to the Dodgers on Sunday night, is 0-4 in overtime.
Wednesday, the padres took a 3-2 lead in the 10th on a suicide pressure from Austin Nola, who brought Rougned Odor. Minnesota tied in the bottom half on Donovan Solano’s opposite field first single on the right field line that drove in auto-runner Willi Castro. It was the second straight stoppage for closer Josh Hader, who struck out three in the set.
San Diego failed to score in the top of the 11th despite loading in with two outs. Griffin Jax knocked out Matt Carpenter on three pitches to end the threat.
“It’s coming back down — what were they, 4 for 10 with runners in the scoring position? We were 0 for 5,” San Diego manager Bob Melvin said. “So we had our opportunities. We got some big hits today, and against a really good bullpen. … I just couldn’t finish.”
–Field-Level Media