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Sports
The Associated Press

Marlins put reeling Twins in deeper trouble in wild-card race with 4-1 win

Marlins Twins Baseball
Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Bailey Ober (17) reacts as pitching coach Pete Maki comes to the mound during the first inning of a baseball game against the Miami Marlins, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Minneapolis.
Abbie Parr | AP

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The cratering Minnesota Twins took another step backward in the American League wild-card race, as Jonah Bride homered to spark a four-run second inning off Bailey Ober for the 99-loss Miami Marlins in a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night.

Bride had three hits, while Nick Fortes and Xavier Edwards each had two and helped fuel the defining rally in the second against Ober (12-8), who failed to finish six innings for just the second time in his last 17 starts. But the the biggest culprit in Minnesota's 23rd loss in 34 games was again a lineup that has produced two or fewer runs in 14 of the last 30 games.

“I’m not thinking about that on the mound. I’m more frustrated that I’m giving up runs," Ober said. "Just with where we’re at in the season, every run counts and matters.”

The Twins (81-76), who have also lost 14 of 20, dropped to two games below the postseason cut behind both Detroit and Kansas City. The Tigers and Royals occupy the last two of the three wild-card spots, tied at 83-74. The Twins hold the tiebreakers after winning the season series against both of them, but there are only five games to go.

“We always go one game at a time, but we’ve got to win a bunch of games right now,” manager Rocco Baldelli said. "This is well past just us needing to play good baseball. We need to win, and we know that.”

With Minnesota’s loss, Baltimore clinched at least a wild card spot. The surging Tigers added a win to the column — their 28th in their last 39 games — even before the Twins took batting practice, with their game against Tampa Bay moved up to beat the rain.

The defending AL Central champion Twins were within two games of division-leading Cleveland in a tie for second place with Kansas City as late as Aug. 24, even after several bullpen collapses in the preceding week. But as they stumbled into the final month of the season their offense — which had been one of the most productive in baseball all summer — inconveniently went dark.

The opposing Marlins have the second-worst record in the major leagues, ahead of only the historically futile Chicago White Sox. Even with the commanding presence on the mound of Ober, the 6-foot-9 right-hander who's had a breakout season, the Twins couldn't find any life.

Bride hit a 104.3 mph rocket off a full-count fastball that reached the second deck beyond left field to put the Marlins, who lost 10 of their last 13 games entering this series, on the board. With two outs, Ober hit Derek Hill with a pitch and gave up an RBI single to Fortes two batters later.

Then Edwards drilled a two-run double to left field for a four-run lead that might well have been double that with the way the Twins have been playing. They went 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position, leaving 10 runners on base, and outfielder Matt Wallner left after a pinch-hit appearance with tightness in his left oblique muscle.

Royce Lewis had an RBI single in the third off Marlins starter Ryan Weathers (4-6), but the left-hander finished five innings for his first win since May 26. He was on the injured list for 2½ months.

Ober pitched to one batter in the sixth. He's 0-3 with five no-decisions in his last eight starts.

“It’s really frustrating,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “We’re just not able to scratch across runs when we need to. We’re not able to get the big hit. We’re not able to hit the ball out of the park.”

No running

Jeffers threw out two runners trying to steal second base, including Edwards in the fourth. He has 30 stolen bases in 65 games and has only been caught four times.

Kepler's farewell?

Twins right fielder Max Kepler is not expected to return this week, having missed the last 20 games with an injury initially diagnosed as patellar tendinitis in his left knee that has since been broadened to include a hip problem that could require offseason surgery.

If Minnesota misses the playoffs, it's likely Kepler has played his last game with an organization that signed him in 2009 as a 16-year-old out of Germany. His best season came in 2019, when he hit 36 home runs with 90 RBIs and an .855 on-base-plus-slugging percentage.

“I don’t think I could have done much more as a kid from Berlin,” he said.

Up next

RHP Edward Cabrera (4-8, 5.12 ERA) pitches for the Marlins in the middle game of the series on Wednesday night. RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (5-5, 4.00 ERA) starts for the Twins.