MINNEAPOLIS -- Noah Cameron gave the Royals everything they could have asked for Thursday night. Eight shutout innings, one hit allowed, seven strikeouts, and a no-hitter that survived into the seventh.
And it still wasn’t enough.
The Royals were one out from walking out of Minnesota with a win, but the Twins ripped away a 3-0 lead in the ninth and finished the comeback with Kody Clemens’ two-out, two-strike walk-off grand slam off Matt Strahm, turning a near-perfect night into a crushing 4-3 loss.
“We got beat. Nobody’s gonna be happy about that,” manager Matt Quatraro said. “These guys take a lot of pride in what they do, and we weren't able to finish it off.”
Cameron’s outing was the kind that usually gets remembered for days. He worked 97 pitches, 62 for strikes, and never let Minnesota settle in. He mixed changeups, cutters and four-seam fastballs, stayed ahead of hitters, and kept the Twins from the hit column until Ryan Jeffers opened the seventh with a single to right-center.
“We were just attacking the zone, attacking guys, and keeping guys off balance,” Cameron said.
It was another step forward for a pitcher who had already turned in his best appearance of the season on July 24 in Detroit, when he threw seven scoreless innings after Beck Way handled the first inning. Cameron said that outing looked more like the rookie who posted a 2.99 ERA last season, and he carried that same approach into this one by calling his own pitches again.
He also brought a different edge.
“I think I’m just kind of tired of not pitching well,” Cameron said. “So just have a chip on my shoulder a little bit, trying to pitch a little bit more angry.”
The Royals backed him with early power. Jac Caglianone, John Rave, Isaac Collins and Tyler Tolbert each finished with two hits, and Caglianone launched a Statcast-projected 438-foot two-run homer in the third to get Kansas City on the board. The only other run came on a Twins error in the fifth.
That 3-0 cushion held all the way into the ninth, where Lucas Erceg got the first two outs quickly by striking out Trevor Larnach and getting Victor Caratini to lift a soft liner to shortstop. Then the inning turned.
Erceg hit Ryan Jeffers with a pitch, Royce Lewis followed with a slow roller up the middle for a single, and Josh Bell battled from 0-2 to a full count before taking a close pitch for ball four. Salvador Perez challenged the call and lost, loading the bases for Clemens.
Quatraro went to the left-handed Strahm to face the left-handed hitter, and the matchup looked favorable at first. Clemens came in with 18 homers on the season, but only four against lefties. Strahm got ahead 0-2 with two sinkers, one called a strike and one fouled off, before leaving a breaking ball in the zone.
Clemens didn’t miss it.
“It was supposed to be a sweeper, and I left it in the zone,” said Strahm, who has allowed eight homers in his last 18 1/3 innings dating back to June 1.
Quatraro said Erceg’s night was more about misfortune than poor execution.
“He threw the ball well,” Quatraro said. “The sinker [to Jeffers] got away from him, and then the ground ball [by Lewis] was a weak ground ball and it found its way up the middle. If that's hit to somebody, we're having a different discussion.”
Instead, the Royals left with a loss that was hard to swallow and a bullpen that needed picking up. Caglianone said the response has to come from the group itself.
“Just make sure nobody feels alienated,” Caglianone said. “I mean, I've cost us some games.
Everybody has cost us some games at any point. We’re a team for a reason.
You pick each other up at the end of the day.”
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