Bailey Ober Just Threw 89 Pitches and Shut Out an Entire Team. Nobody's Doing It Like That Anymore.

When Bailey Ober took the mound at Target Field on Tuesday night, he wasn't going to out-velo anybody. The 6-foot-9 righty averaged just 88.8 mph on his fastball, a number that would get laughed at in today's arm-race MLB. But somehow, he just threw a complete-game shutout on 89 pitches and beat the Marlins 3-0. Let that sink in.

The Maddux That Wasn't Actually a Maddux

Here's the thing about Bailey Ober: he doesn't pitch like his opposite number, Eury Pérez (6-foot-8), who averaged 98.1 mph and attacks with high heat. Ober mixes speeds. He makes hitters think. He got two hits and zero walks across nine innings, and when first baseman Kody Clemens made the final out, Ober felt the tingling in his limbs that comes with one of the rarest accomplishments in baseball.

Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers nailed it after the game: "We were talking if under 100 is a Maddux, we're going to have to name under 90 an Ober." Jeffers added that Ober "was just under control. He was executing pitches." That execution was elite. The changeup. The slider. The sweeper. The fastball. Nothing was off.

The Perfect Rhythm After Rough Patches

Ober had been rolling this season before his last start against the Nationals, where he gave up five runs on six hits, two walks, and a home run. He'd also gone three straight starts striking out three or fewer batters, a concerning stretch after his 10-strikeout performance against the Reds on April 19. On Tuesday, he bounced back with seven strikeouts, his second-most of the season and matching his seven against the Red Sox on April 13.

Twins manager Derek Shelton didn't hold back in his assessment: "The command was elite tonight. The ability to use the changeup versus right and versus left, mixed the fastball and got a ton of early-count soft contact, a lot of early-count popups. Overall, there's not much you can say other than that was just outstanding."

The Twins scored their runs in the fifth on a Byron Buxton steal of home and a two-run homer from Jeffers, giving Ober plenty of confidence to pitch deep into the start. "I felt like I was able to just locate. I felt like I was able to put my hand in different spots through the sweeper, changeup, slider, fastball," Ober said after.

Historic Company, Even at 89 Pitches

This was Ober's first career complete-game shutout. The last Twins pitcher to throw a Maddux was Ervin Santana, way back on June 9, 2017, against the Giants. Wild that it took nearly a decade for this to happen again.

What's even wilder: Ober threw exactly 89 pitches in an earlier complete game on June 22, 2024, in Oakland (a 10-2 Twins win). "I'd take this game over that one though because I think I gave up two home runs during that game. That's pretty wild that they were both the same pitch count," Ober said.

He now marks the sixth time since 1988 a Twins pitcher has thrown a complete game on 90 pitches or fewer. The company includes Carlos Silva, John Smiley, Bill Krueger, and Rick Aguilera. Here's the kicker: Bill Krueger was the only one who'd thrown a complete-game shutout before Tuesday. Now it's Ober. In an age where velo is king, that's as close to baseball poetry as it gets.

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.