Minnesota Twins manager Rocco Baldelli appreciates his team’s even-keeled demeanor.
If the Twins are winning, they don’t get overconfident. If they’re losing, they don’t panic.
Baldelli will look for his players to maintain the same approach when they play against the Oakland Athletics on Saturday afternoon in the third installment of a four-game series. The Twins have won the first two games of the series, including a 6-5 victory in 10 innings on Friday night.
Minnesota battled back from a 4-0 deficit to force extra innings and get the win.
“I have confidence that the team never quits, and that the team just — regardless of what is in front of us — we just keep our heads down and we keep playing hard and we keep playing good baseball,” Baldelli said. “That starts not with me. It starts with the leadership in the clubhouse. We have guys that just keep playing well.
“It doesn’t mean you’re always going to come back and win, but you always have a chance to come back and win. It was a great night.”
Max Kepler will try to stay hot after serving as the hero on Friday. He hit a game-tying, three-run homer in the sixth inning, and he provided the walk-off hit in the bottom of the 10th.
Kepler finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs.
“We stayed present,” Kepler said. “We stayed pitch to pitch. That’s all we can do. Just help each other out, keep the line moving and play hard baseball.”
Meanwhile, the Athletics are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak.
“Tough loss,” Oakland manager Mark Kotsay said of the Friday setback.
“This stretch, we’ve given some games away, really. These guys, they’re giving everything they have. But execution in terms of making plays, you know, we’ve got to make plays. We’re costing ourselves wins.
“When we were playing well, when we were closing games out, we were executing fundamentally. We were playing good defense. We were adding on to leads. We just haven’t been able to do that in the last 10 or 12 days.”
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (5-4, 5.13 ERA) will take the mound on Saturday. He will try to bounce back from a tough outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates in which he allowed four runs on seven hits in 4 2/3 innings on Sunday. He fanned five and walked two.
Ober won his lone career start against Oakland. He pitched five scoreless innings, allowed two hits, walked none and struck out eight in the Twins’ 11-3 win on Sept. 26, 2023.
The Athletics will counter with Joey Estes (2-2, 4.78 ERA). The 22-year-old right-hander lasted five innings on Monday against the San Diego Padres, yielding three runs on eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts in a 6-1 defeat.
Estes has made one career start against Minnesota, his second career major league outing on Sept. 27, 2023. He allowed three runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings during a no-decision.
–Field Level Media