MINNEAPOLIS — Bailey Ober never faced more than four batters in an inning Friday as the Twins beat Toronto, 3-1.
The rookie starter went five shutout innings with six strikeouts at Target Field in front of an announced crowd of 18,861. His one flaw was a solo home run Marcus Semien hit into the bullpen in the sixth inning, but Jorge Alcala came in right after to end that inning without any more damage.
Despite the Blue Jays being the postseason hopefuls while the Twins have already seen that dream die this year, the Twins have outplayed Toronto through two games of this four-game series. Toronto is in danger of falling farther behind the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the wild-card race.
The Twins capitalized offensively in the third inning. Andrelton Simmons, at the bottom of the batting order, drew a walk to start. Luis Arráez then hit a triple that dribbled all the way to the right-field corner, giving Simmons time to run home while Arráez himself made it to third base for an RBI triple.
Byron Buxton smashed a two-run home run to the living wall next, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.
All those runs came against former Twins pitcher José Berríos, who started against the Twins for the second time since his July trade. In his welcome back to Target Field, Berrios went six innings, allowing five hits and two walks but striking out 10.
The Twins on Friday were set to wait until after their game against Toronto to announce a starting pitcher for Saturday.
