Bailey Ober, by all measures, has been a solid major league starting pitcher throughout his four-year career. Except when he’s facing the Kansas City Royals.

Ober, in a 6-1 loss, surrendered nine hits and six runs over five innings Wednesday at Target Field, the most damage he’s allowed in a start since he faced the Royals in his season debut. Ober owns a 7.71 ERA in nine career starts against his division rival.

It’s a confounding kryptonite. Ober had good command, inducing several swings and misses with his fastball and cutter. He threw a first-pitch strike to 18 of his 24 batters. He didn’t walk anyone. It was still one of his worst starts of the year.

Ober was doomed during a four-run third inning. Bobby Witt Jr. poked an opposite-field RBI single through the right side of the infield, and Salvador Perez followed with an RBI double off the left field wall when he connected with a cutter on the outside corner. Perez has reached base at least once in 43 of his last 45 games.

After a running catch from Carlos Correa in left field, Nelson Velázquez crushed a full-count cutter past the center-field fence for a two-run, two-out homer.

In the fifth inning, Perez hammered a fastball for a solo homer to center, a no-doubter that Perez appreciated for a moment in the batter’s box. Two batters later, Velázquez hit another fastball into the left field seats for the third multi-homer game of his career.

Ober, who allowed nine hits and eight runs in 1⅓ innings in Kansas City on March 31, has yielded a 19.90 ERA in his two starts against Kansas City this year and a 3.02 ERA against every other team. Six of the 10 homers he’s allowed are from Royals batters.

After Ober exited, Twins relievers Steven Okert, Diego Castillo and Cole Sands combined to pitch four scoreless innings with one hit and one walk.

BOXSCORE: Kansas City 6, Twins 1

The Twins had a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Royals righthander Seth Lugo, who owns the lowest ERA (1.72) in the majors among starting pitchers, with contributions from the bottom three hitters in their lineup. Willi Castro lined a double down the right-field line, Carlos Santana blooped a single to center and Jose Miranda hit a sacrifice fly to the left field warning track.

Lugo, who allowed six hits and three walks in six innings, staved off potential rallies with key strikeouts. After a pair of two-out singles in the first inning, Lugo struck out Ryan Jeffers in an eight-pitch at-bat. Lugo stranded two more runners by striking out Miranda in the fourth inning.

With two runners on base and one out in the fifth inning, Lugo struck out Max Kepler on a called third strike on the 12th pitch of their at-bat. Lugo, who throws eight different pitches and used each of them in that at-bat, pumped his fist when his 93-mph sinker froze Kepler.

The Twins had only one inning when they didn’t have a batter reach base, but they went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. After the first two batters reached base in the bottom of the ninth inning, Correa lined out to third base before Royals reliever Carlos Hernández retired Byron Buxton and Max Kepler with a strikeout and a flyout.

Kansas athletic director Travis Goff has agreed to a new seven-year contract through 2031, sources told ESPN.

The move includes a significant pay raise and is indicative of the work Goff has done to revive Kansas football to relevancy. From 1996 through 2022, KU football had three winning seasons.

Goff goes from being the Big 12’s lowest-paid athletic director at a base of nearly $750,000 per year to making an average of $1.6 million over the next seven years, which will put him near the top of the conference.

Since arriving in April 2021, Goff hired football coach Lance Leipold and has been aggressive in retaining him. Leipold’s average salary of $7 million per year puts him in the top three in the Big 12.

That investment and commitment to Leipold is part of a heavy focus on football, something that’s crucial for the university and athletic department moving forward. Goff helped organize and orchestrate $450 million in football facility projects for both Kansas’ Memorial Stadium and facility upgrades.

Goff has also helped Kansas initiate $50 million in upgrades to Allen Fieldhouse, the school’s historic basketball venue.

This move gives Kansas chancellor Doug Girod the three most prominent athletic department figures significant long-term deals. Basketball coach Bill Self is among the highest-paid coaches in college basketball, Leipold’s contact is through the 2029 season and now Goff through 2031.

Kansas won the 2022 national championship in basketball and the football program has reached back-to-back bowl games for the first time since 2007 and 2008.

The Big 12 might be the strongest conference when it comes to the quarterback position. The Big Ten is known for running backs and defense, the SEC wide receivers, and the Big 12 quarterbacks.

Rosters are not set in stone just yet and crazy things could happen, but for the most part, teams know who will be behind center for them. Kansas State, with the departure of Will Howard, Avery Johnson is set to take center stage for the Wildcats and he could easily be a problem for any defense he faces.

Now, which quarterbacks will be a problem for the Wildcats? Here are the four toughest quarterbacks the Wildcats could face in 2024.

Garrett Greene is more of a running quarterback, but that is what will hurt the Kansas State defense the most. After losing some key players on offense, the Wildcats could struggle against the run in 2024. Greene had 772 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns and shows aspects of a Lamar Jackson-esque running quarterback. Green also has a good ability to through the ball, so if the defense has to have a spy in the middle of the field for Greene, he could still beat you deep if you leave it open.

Jalon Daniels will be a tough quarterback to face at any point for Kansas State because he plays for the Kansas Jayhawks, a rival team. However, Daniels has shown signs of real greatness, but he has dealt with injury a lot in his career. The tough thing about facing Daniels is that he truly is a dual threat and there is no right way to guard him. If you take away the pass he can hurt you with his legs, if you take away the run, he can out-throw the secondary easily.

Noah Fifita is one of the most exciting players coming into the college football world. Fifita is dangerous because of all the players around him that make him just that much better. He has the arm like Josh Allen and the completion percentage of Patrick Mahomes when his wide receivers are dropping all their passes. Fifita could be scary to face because of also how unknown he is and he could be an immediate breakout star.

Sheduer Sanders is going to be the toughest quarterback any team is going to face this year because of just how good he is. He also has an all-star offense around him that helps elevate his play. The only thing that might help Kansas State against him is if they can get pressure on him because the offensive line made Sanders the most-sacked quarterback in college football last season. Sanders can do it all and that is what makes him so tough to face.