SEATTLE — With Logan Gilbert on the mound, runs have been at a premium for Mariners’ opponents this season.
And while the Twins’ offense has been among the best of late, with Gilbert on the other side of things, it meant that Bailey Ober likely was going to need to be at the top of his game — or near it — to help keep his team in it.
Lucky for the Twins, he was. But in close games, with little wiggle room, mistakes get magnified and that’s exactly what happened on Friday.
A pitcher’s duel between the starters for most of the day turned into a Twins’ loss after a couple blips in the field helped send them to 3-2 extra-inning loss on Friday night at T-Mobile Park.
The Twins, who were unable to convert in the top of the 10th inning, were walked off in bottom of the inning when J.P. Crawford, the Mariners’ automatic runner scored on a fielder’s choice. Reliever Cole Sands tried to field the ball but after spinning around, his throw was both off target and too late.
That came after the Twins saw their razor-thin advantage disappear two innings earlier.
After the first two batters of the eighth reached, Mariners center fielder Julio Rodríguez grounded a ball towards third. Luke Raley ran in front of Jose Miranda, with Miranda trying and missing a tag attempt before he fired off a throw that got past first baseman Carlos Santana, allowing Raley to score the game-tying run.
To that point, the only other run the Mariners had scored had come in the fifth and while an error was not charged, it was a play that likely should have been made.
Mitch Haniger, whom Ober walked with two outs, raced home on a Josh Rojas double. Had the relay throw from Willi Castro been fielded cleanly by catcher Christian Vázquez, he likely would have been out.
It wasn’t, and he scored, giving the Mariners a 1-0 lead at the time.
It was all that the Mariners managed against Ober, who allowed just two hits in his six innings, following up his 89-pitch complete game with another solid outing.
The first hit Ober gave up was to Rodríguez in the first inning, whom he promptly picked off. He then retired the next seven hitters before allowing a pair of walks in the fourth, neither of which came around to hurt him.
Though the Twins fell behind ever so briefly, Ober’s effort kept his team in the game while the team’s offense was being quieted by Gilbert.
Gilbert ran his scoreless streak to 21 innings before the Twins finally broke through in the sixth.
After Castro was hit by a pitch for his team-leading 12th time, Carlos Correa planted a Gilbert breaking ball in the Twins’ bullpen in left field, giving them a lead they would hold until the eighth inning.
