{"id":282905,"date":"2024-05-30T09:04:06","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T14:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=282905"},"modified":"2024-05-30T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T14:04:07","slug":"after-six-more-runs-why-cant-ober-solve-kansas-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=282905","title":{"rendered":"After Six More Runs, Why Can’t Ober Solve Kansas City?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MINNEAPOLIS — What is it about the Kansas City Royals that seemingly makes them Bailey Ober<\/a>\u2019s kryptonite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically the Twins\u2019 most consistent starting pitcher throughout his four-year career, Ober has now had two blow-up outings against the Royals, this time allowing six runs in five innings as part of the\u00a0Twins\u2019 6-1 loss<\/a>\u00a0at Target Field on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a disastrous season debut<\/a> in which Ober allowed eight runs to the Royals on nine hits in a career-low 1 1\/3 innings, he didn\u2019t have many answers — and two months later, it appeared that he still was puzzled for the solution to whatever it is about Kansas City that gives him fits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhenever I throw against them, it seems to go that way right now,\u201d Ober said. \u201cBut yeah, it\u2019s frustrating. It sucks when you go out there — I mean, every time I go out there, I\u2019m expecting to be able to turn in a good outing. And lately, that hasn\u2019t turned out that way against those guys over there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The long ball sunk Ober on Wednesday, as it did in his season opener, with Nelson Vel\u00e1zquez going deep twice and Salvador Perez hitting a homer and double as part of the Royals\u2019 six-run outburst, a rarity when the big right-hander is on the mound — except, it seems, when he\u2019s facing Kansas City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a sample of what that has looked like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Ober has allowed six homers in two starts against the Royals this season, and four homers in nine starts against everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Ober has allowed 14 runs in 6 1\/3 innings in those two starts against the Royals this season, and 17 runs in 50 2\/3 innings against everyone else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Among Ober\u2019s 68 career starts, he has allowed six or more runs only three times. All three of those starts have come against Kansas City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2022 Ober has a 7.71 ERA in nine career starts against the Royals, and a 3.36 ERA against everyone else. He has been highly effective against the rest of the division, with a 3.63 ERA in 11 starts against Chicago, a 2.53 ERA in six starts against Cleveland, and a 4.21 ERA in nine starts against Detroit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ober and manager Rocco Baldelli insisted that there doesn\u2019t seem to be much of an explanation for why Kansas City continues to give him fits, and these are hardly the biggest of sample sizes. But if there\u2019s any semblance of an explanation for it, it\u2019s perhaps that the Royals have been better at eliminating Ober\u2019s offspeed pitches than other teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He drastically cut down on his fastball usage in this outing, throwing it with only 38% of his pitches, as compared to 49% of his offerings in his season opener. But the Royals were still on it, with both Vel\u00e1zquez and Perez waiting out Ober\u2019s fastball to drive it in the two-run fifth inning.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MINNEAPOLIS — What is it about the Kansas City Royals that seemingly makes them Bailey Ober\u2019s kryptonite? Typically the Twins\u2019 most consistent starting pitcher throughout his four-year career, Ober has now had two blow-up outings against the Royals, this time allowing six runs in five innings as part of the\u00a0Twins\u2019 6-1 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":272399,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282906,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282905\/revisions\/282906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/272399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}