Twins Use Home Runs and Slick Defense To Top Blue Jays 7-1

Minneapolis – After a devastating late-inning loss on Wednesday, the Minnesota Twins came back swinging to earn a 7-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays behind Bailey Ober’s six innings of one-run ball.

Minnesota’s offense also got some big home runs from catcher Ryan Jeffers in the fourth to give them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and a three-hit night from Byron Buxton, which included a home run to lead off the sixth inning.

But it was Ober, Anthony Banda, Andrew Morris, and Justin Topa’s pitching that helped secure the Twins their first win since their 11-4 victory over the Seattle Mariners on Monday.

Ober only allowed one run on Daulton Varsho's home run in the fourth, and was able to get ahead in the count with a first pitch strike against 18 of the 25 batters he faced in the game.

“I mean, it starts and stops there,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said regarding Ober’s impact on Minnesota’s win. “I don’t know the actual stats, but I mean what’d he face 24, 25 hitters and a ton of first-pitch strikes. Kept them off balance. This is a really good club, and he did a really good job of mixing and matching and not a lot of hard contact.”

Ober’s velocity has been a concern early, and his fastball averaged 88 MPH in Thursday night’s game. Still, Ober has been able to reconfigure his game without velocity being a big factor in getting hitters to swing and miss or hit into outs.

“The lost art of pitching,” Ober said. “People are trying to throw as hard as they can all the time, and right now I don't have my best velo. But being able to mix offspeed and get it to my locations that I want to throw it to, getting the changeup down, and when needed, throw some fastballs up and in and try to get guys off balance. That's the name of the game.”

Ober got to face the lead-off man in the seventh inning, but gave up a single to Ernie Clement. With two lefties up behind Clement in Yohendrick Pinango and Andres Gimenez, Shelton turned to Banda to get the bottom of the Blue Jays order out.

He got the first two batters. However, he gave up a two-out single to catcher Brandon Valenzuela up the middle, which Luke Keaschall stopped, and held Clement from advancing past second.

Shelton then turned to Morris to get the third out, marking the first time in his career that he entered a game in relief during the middle of an inning with inherited runners.

Morris had no easy task ahead of him. All-Star George Springer was at the plate. Morris got Springer to hit a sweeper back to him on a 2-1 one count, and thinking there was still only one out, Morris's instincts told him to throw to second.

"I turned around, and nobody was there,” Morris said. “And Keasch's face was like (Morris showed the shocked expression Keaschall had), you know. So I'm like, 'Oh, okay.' So I was like, 'Oh, just throw to first.' So yeah, I didn't realize that was pretty good."

Shelton sent Morris back out to pitch the eighth, and aside from a broken bat single from Vladimir Guerrero Jr., he was able to retire the rest of the Blue Jays lineup without a scratch.

Minnesota’s infield defense also provided some of its best plays together on the season. Brooks Lee showed some of his best range on plays at shortstop. Royce Lewis made a nice diving catch above the rain tarp in the fifth and nearly made a second catch later in the game.

Even Keaschall's stopping Valenzuela’s single from getting into the outfield grass showed improvements in his instincts to keep the lead runner from advancing.

“Royce almost made an unbelievable play going to the tarp,” said Shelton. “Brooksy made two really nice plays. Even the ball that was hit up the middle that Keaschall knocked down, I think we’re starting to get in a better flow defensively. I feel it’s been the last 7-10 days where it’s really kind of ticked up.”

The Twins finish the first full month of the season with a 14-18 record. They now turn the calendar to May, with a clean slate to improve their game and get back up to a .500 record. Simeon Woods Richardson has the ball Friday night against the Blue Jays’ Patrick Corbin, with the first pitch scheduled for 7:10 pm.