Bailey Ober pitched the first complete game of his career, Manuel Margot contributed a three-run home run to a seven-run second inning and the Minnesota Twins thumped the host Oakland Athletics 10-2 on Saturday afternoon.
Jose Miranda and Carlos Correa chipped in with a combined six hits, four RBIs and two runs for the Twins, who snapped a three-game losing streak that included a 6-5 defeat in the opener of the three-game series on Friday.
Ober (7-4) allowed solo home runs to JJ Bleday in the first inning and Tyler Soderstrom in the second before retiring 23 of the last 25 batters he faced. One of the two hitters to reach base, Kyle McCann, was erased on a double play. McCann had singled in the third.
The complete game was the first for a Minnesota pitcher since Pablo Lopez shut out the Kansas City Royals on July 5, 2023. Ober needed just 89 pitches to go the distance, allowing four hits and no walks to go along with a season-high-tying 10 strikeouts.
With the score tied at 1-1 after one inning, the Twins blew the game open. Willi Castro doubled and Kyle Farmer was hit by a pitch to open the second against A’s starter JP Sears (4-7).
Margot then gave the visitors the lead for good with his three-run shot to left-center, his second homer of the season.
The Twins were far from done.
Singles by Correa and Royce Lewis set up a two-run double by Miranda. Sears was removed after giving up a single by Ryan Jeffers and an RBI double to Byron Buxton. Farmer’s single in his second plate appearance of the 12-batter inning delivered Minnesota’s eighth run.
Up 8-1, the Twins coasted home with single runs in the third on a Miranda double and in the seventh on a Correa double.
Sears was charged with eight runs on nine hits in 1 1/3 innings. He struck out one and did not issue a walk.
Margot finished 3-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs to lead a 16-hit assault. Miranda had three hits, a run and three RBIs, while Correa went for three hits, a run and an RBI.
Bleday’s home run was his 11th of the season. Soderstrom hit his sixth.
–Field Level Media
