Joe Ryan scratched due to illness Thursday, Bailey Ober to start for Twins

Twins pitcher Joe Ryan, who was scheduled to start in Thursday afternoon's series finale against the Orioles, has been scratched due to illness, according to reports. Bailey Ober will jump up one day and get the ball for Minnesota as they look to complete a sweep over Baltimore at Target Field.

Ryan is dealing with "flu-like symptoms," per Dan Hayes of The Athletic. He isn't the first Twins player to be under the weather this week. Harrison Bader was scratched from Tuesday's game with an illness and remained out of the lineup on Wednesday, but he came off the bench and delivered his first career pinch-hit home run in the seventh inning of a 5-2 win.

Ryan has been excellent this season, posting a 2.93 ERA across seven starts. He has 47 strikeouts and just five walks in his 40 innings pitched (though he has also hit five batters). Presumably, if he's feeling better by Friday, Ryan could take Ober's scheduled spot that night to open a weekend series against the Giants in Minneapolis. Otherwise, the Twins could bump Chris Paddack up a day and continue to push back Ryan's next start.

Ober will be pitching on normal rest on Thursday. He last started on Saturday in Boston, and because the Twins were off on Monday, he'll have had the standard four days off between starts. The same would be true if Paddack potentially gets the ball on Friday.

After an awful first start of the season against the Cardinals, Ober has been quite good for the Twins. He allowed 8 runs in 2.2 innings in St. Louis and has allowed just 8 runs in 36 innings since then, spanning six starts. He's given up only one earned run in five of his last six starts.

Opposing Ober on Thursday will be Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer, who has a 5.73 ERA this season and just 22 strikeouts in 37.2 innings. Baltimore has lost 11 of its last 15 games.

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