ST. LOUIS — If this is now an annual tradition, at least we know Bailey Ober can bounce back from it.

One day short of the anniversary of Ober’s disastrous 2024 debut, that eight-run, four-out debacle at Kansas City, the tall righthander did a pretty fair — and unexpected — impression of that day’s helplessness.

This time, Ober recorded eight outs before being mercifully pulled after surrendering an equal number of runs, including a pair of three-run homers. Ober faced 19 Cardinals batters, allowed 11 of them to reach base, and absorbed the Twins’ third consecutive loss to open the 2025 season, 9-2 in Busch Stadium.

It’s only the sixth time in their 65-year history that the Twins have opened a season at 0-3 or worse, and the first since their 0-9 start in 2016. The Twins went 59-103 that season.

The Cardinals outscored the Twins 19-6 during the weekend series and extended the Twins’ two-season losing streak to seven consecutive games and 10 of 11.

The Twins’ bats were mostly quiet once again, with Cardinals righthander Andre Pallante limiting the Twins to four hits over five innings. Byron Buxton dropped a first inning bloop single into left field, scoring Matt Wallner to give the Twins their first lead of the season. Three innings later, Willi Castro connected with a middle-of-the-plate knuckle curve from Pallante, driving it 387 feet into the St. Louis bullpen in right-center.

But the game, interrupted for an hour at its midpoint by a passing thunderstorm, was lost by that point, thanks to Ober’s blowup. He walked two hitters and threw a wild pitch in the first inning, but escaped unscathed.

He got plenty scathed from that point on.