The right-hander punched out five batters on the night and didn’t issue a free pass. Most of the damage done against him came via the long ball, with Pete Alonso belting a solo shot in the opening inning and Juan Soto doing the same in the fourth. He then exited with two men on and one out in the seventh inning and one of those runners ultimately came around to score. Ober got 12 swings and misses on 77 pitches on the night, posting a CSW of 30 percent. He’ll attempt to further improve upon his 6.16 ERA and 1.42 WHIP when he takes on the White Sox at home on Tuesday.

Ober served up a leadoff homer to Jose Altuve to open the contest and needed a staggering 84 pitches (54 strikes) to complete four frames. He finished with five strikeouts and handed out a pair of free passes. It qualifies as a significant step in the right direction since he was blasted for eight runs over 2 2/3 innings last weekend in his season debut. He’ll face the Royals on Thursday in a road tilt.

A glass-half-full person would point out that this is the same way Ober opened up what turned out to be an excellent 2024 season; he gave up eight runs in 1 1/3 innings versus the Royals on March 31. Still, this doesn’t seem to be that Ober. He averaged 90.3 mph today with his fastball. That’s right where he was all spring, too, and it’s down about 1.5 mph from last year. He’s not necessarily totally doomed as a fantasy starter if he doesn’t get that back, but he surely won’t be helping in ERA as is.