Ober outstanding again as Twins top Guardians 4-2 in Game 1 of doubleheader

Hours after the Minnesota Twins announced that starting pitcher Joe Ryan will be out for a while due to injury , Bailey Ober reminded fans that they still have a good team.

The 6-foot-9 righty continued his red-hot streak, posting his ninth consecutive quality start to help carry the Twins to victory in the first of four games this weekend against the American League Central-leading Cleveland Guardians.

Ober threw a career-high 106 pitches while limiting the Guardians to two hits, two walks and zero runs and striking out nine over six innings. That's also the longest streak of quality starts for a Minnesota starter since 2009, per the Twins' TV broadcast.

Over his last nine games, dating back to mid-June, Ober has posted a 1.76 ERA with 72 strikeouts over 61.1 innings. Over that span, only Pittsburgh phenom Paul Skenes has a better ERA among starters and only Dylan Cease, Tarik Skubal and Chris Sale have more strikeouts than Ober.

After Manuel Margot led off the home-half of the first with a double, Royce Lewis got him home on an RBI groundout to give the Twins an early lead. Carlos Santana, the longtime former Cleveland first baseman, doubled that lead with a solo shot to left the next inning.

Catcher Ryan Jeffers added a solo homer of his own in the third as the Twins looked well in control early.

However, Guardians starter Joey Cantillo settled in and kept Cleveland close, and when the Twins turned to the bullpen, reliever Jorge Alcala yielded a two-run homer in the seventh to make it a one-run game.

But Kyle Farmer, who was activated before the game Friday due to Brooks Lee’s injury, delivered a sacrifice fly to add an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh, and Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran each tossed scoreless frames to close out the 4-2 win.

The victory cuts Cleveland’s lead over Minnesota in the division to 2.5 games ahead of the back-end of the doubleheader.

Louie Varland (0-4, 6.58 ERA) will make his seventh start of the season for the Twins in the Friday evening game. While he struggled in April, he was much better in his spot starts in June, giving up just two runs over 9.1 innings. Alex Cobb, a trade deadline acquisition by Cleveland, is set to make his season debut in the nightcap after recovering from hip surgery. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.