Twins' Bailey Ober activated from IL to start vs. Guardians Saturday

The Twins have officially ended Bailey Ober's rehab assignment and activated him off of the IL to start Saturday afternoon's game against the Guardians in Cleveland (3:10 p.m. CT).

Ober will look to bounce back after struggling mightily in June and then missing all of July with a left hip impingement. It would be a positive development for the Twins if they can get one of their typically-solid starting pitchers back on track for the rest of this season.

The last time we saw Ober in a Twins uniform was on June 28 in Detroit. He was shelled in that game, allowing 11 hits, four home runs, and seven earned runs over 5.2 innings. It was his fifth consecutive rough June start. During the month, Ober allowed 38 hits, 30 earned runs, and 14 homers in 30 innings, good for a 9.00 ERA. He was the first Twins pitcher to allow 30 runs in a five-start span since 2008, and the 14 homers tied him with Bert Blyleven for the franchise record in a single month.

Something didn't seem physically right with Ober, who was so good in April and May (2.43 ERA over 11 starts) after getting hit hard in his season debut. As it turns out, he had a hip injury that landed him on the IL for more than a month.

Ober made two rehab starts with Triple-A St. Paul, allowing one earned run on six hits and a walk over nine innings. He struck out nine. Ober threw 50 pitches in the first start and 65 in the second, so it's possible the Twins will have some limit on his pitch count on Saturday.

Ober's ERA is a career-worst 5.28 this season. The tall right-hander was at 3.98 last year and 3.43 the year before. He's under team control via arbitration for two more seasons after this one.

Simeon Woods Richardson will start Sunday's series finale. The Twins haven't announced a starting pitcher for Monday's opener in Detroit, but based on Derek Falvey's comments on Friday, it doesn't sound like newcomers Taj Bradley or Mick Abel will get the ball for that game. Perhaps Pierson Ohl will receive a second big-league start.

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