Bailey Ober can’t overcome disastrous first set as Twins lose 4-1 to Giants

Bailey Ober pitched four shutout innings Monday night against San Francisco, allowing just one hit over a 13-battering streak.

One big problem, though: Those shutout innings were second through fifth. With the Target Field crowd barely having time to find their seats, the Giants already had a four-point lead early in the first before Ober could register a takedown.

That poor start, plus a lack of timely hitting from the home team, condemned the Twins to a 4-1 loss to the Giants in Game 1 of a three-game series in front of 16,627. The Twins (25-23) have lost five of their last seven games.

San Francisco (23-24) used their “opener” throwing approach well as right-hander John Brebbia threw a 1-2-3 first and southpaw Sean Manaea (2-2) giving up no runs and three hits while striking out eight for 3.2 Tristan Beck went 2.2 innings, Tyler Rogers two-thirds and Scott Alexander one for the stoppage.

The Twins, who struck out 16 and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position, scored their only run on Kyle Garlick’s first homer to leave Beck in the eighth. Emilio Pagan, Griffin Jax and Cole Sands combined for four shutout innings for the Twins.

Trouble started right away for Ober (3-1), who opened the game by walking LaMonte Wade Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski before JD Davis lined up a shot over the head of Willi Castro into the field left to tag Wade. 4 hitter Michael Conforto came on, who cleaned up by blasting a three-run homer to center for a 4-0 Giants lead.

Another march to Blake Sabol followed before Ober pulled out a giant, forcing Casey Schmitt to crash softly. Patrick Bailey finished second and Brandon Crawford retired as Ober suffered no further damage.

At the end of the second, Donovan Solano, batter for Edouard Julien, threw a first single to leave Manaea. The next three Twins went down in order, capped by Giants second baseman Brett Wisely making a diving save from a Grounder Joey Gallo and throwing the Twin in first.

Davis reached on an error by third baseman Kyle Farmer to start the third, but Ober recorded three straight outs.

Manaea walked to Twins receiver Christian Vazquez in the third before retiring pinch hitter Kyle Garlick. Carlos Correa singled to the right, putting the runners up first and second, but Byron Buxton flew to the center, ending the threat.

In the fourth, the Giants got a one-out single from Brandon Crawford before Wisely lined up a shot to Gallo, who grabbed the ball and walked to first base for a late-inning double play. The Twins got a first step from Solano to open their fourth, but Manaea moved Farmer to second, then knocked out Castro and Gallo looking.

The Twins finally got to Manaea in the bottom of the fifth when Garlick walked two out and Correa drove a left double, putting the runners up for second and third. Giants manager Gabe Kapler retired Manaea in favor of Beck. Buxton jumped on Beck’s first pitch, putting him up to third. Schmitt’s pitch beat Buxton to the top spot and the threat was over.

After Garlick homered in the eighth and Beck hit Buxton with a pitch, Kepler fired Beck in favor of Tyler Rogers. The right-hander walked Solano to put the runners up first and second, but pulled Farmer out swinging the Castro looking to end the run.