How Starters Unleash a Secret Strategy to Silence the Opposition’s Power Hitters

I didn’t have a great Sunday, but it was a good week overall for baseball. I went just 1-2 as I lost on Sunday Night Baseball in extra innings, and Kevin Guasman gave up way too many runs in the game against the Yankees for my total play to have any chance. It was a brutal stretch for Gausman and cost me a chance at a winning day. Let’s move on to today’s slate, a smaller slate with the Twins taking on the Guardians on Monday night. 

The Twins are struggling to start the season, and unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of faith in them to turn it around. They don’t really do anything better than anyone else in the division. They don’t have a better pitching staff, they don’t have a better offense, and their defense is pretty average. The team is currently sitting at 12-16. The only good news for Twins fans is that they are 9-6 at home, but just 3-10 on the road. The bad news is that the Twins play on the road tonight. I feel like almost all teams have terrible road records so maybe it isn’t that big of a deal. Tonight, they send out Bailey Ober to the mound. Ober is 2-1 with a 5.04 ERA and a 1.44 WHIP. To this point in the season, he is striking out about one hitter per inning. Here is why you shouldn’t look at global numbers though: he has made two starts on the road and has a 9.35 ERA in 8.2 innings. However, he had 2.2 innings where he allowed eight earned runs and then a quality start against the Royals in his last road outing – a game where he went six innings and allowed just one earned run on five hits. Guardians hitters are absolutely awful against him with just eight hits in 69 at-bats and Jose Ramirez owns six of those hits. 

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