Bailey Ober beat up in Twins' loss to Rangers in final start of season

Bobby Nightengale, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Sep 26, 2026

Published in Baseball

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MINNEAPOLIS — After sitting through a rain delay that lasted two hours and one minute, the Minnesota Twins didn’t have many highlights that were worth the wait.

Bailey Ober, making his final start of the 2026 season, allowed 10 hits and six runs in five innings, including two homers. The Twins watched the Texas Rangers reel off six unanswered runs during their 6-2 loss at Target Field before an announced crowd of 28,491.

The Rangers, who entered Saturday tied with Houston for first place in the American League West division, put up a four-run, two-out rally against Ober during the second inning. Ober struck out the first two batters in the frame before the Rangers tallied five consecutive hits.

The Houston Astros own the tiebreaker over the Rangers, so Texas must finish the season with a better record to reach the playoffs.

Nick Lopez jumpstarted the rally with a double to center, hitting an 88-mph fastball in a 3-1 count. After Ober fell behind 3-0 to Danny Jansen, the Rangers catcher dropped an RBI single into shallow left field between three fielders. Jansen advanced to second on a throwing error from left fielder Alan Roden, who had a very late break to the ball.

Evan Carter, Alejandro Osuna and Brandon Nimmo followed with three consecutive RBI doubles to right field.

Jansen hit a leadoff homer off Ober in the fourth inning, launching a changeup to the second deck in left field. Jake Burger followed with a solo homer in the fifth inning when he bashed an elevated 88-mph fastball over the wall in straightaway center field, his 27th home run of the season.

Ober finished the season with a 7-7 record and a 4.47 ERA in 131 innings. He was the slowest throwing right-handed starter in the majors, eliminating his margin for error when he left pitches over the plate. He totaled 96 strikeouts and 37 walks.

The Twins had a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Luke Keachall lined Nathan Eovaldi’s third pitch into the right-center gap for a leadoff double. Keaschall scored after a pair of groundouts, and the Twins’ offense failed to breakthrough against Rangers pitching for the rest of the night.

Nimmo saved two runs in the third inning, when the Rangers had a three-run lead, after he made a sliding catchin right field on a line drive from Kody Clemens with two runners in scoring position. In the fifth inning, Keaschall grounded into an inning-ending double play against lefty reliever Robert Garcia when he hit with two men on base.

Alan Roden hit a leadoff double in the seventh inning, but he ran into an out afterward after Royce Lewis hit a ground ball to the shortstop.

Keaschall hit a leadoff triple off Jakob Junis in the eighth inning and scored on a two-out single from Josh Bell. It was Bell’s 93rd RBI of the season.

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