The Twins got the kind of night that can leave a team shaking its head: two new arms showed up, both pitched well enough to win, and the Royals still walked away with a 2-1 victory.
Dean Kremer made his Twins debut on the mound, and Noah Cameron followed up his eight-inning shutout of Minnesota from last week with another sharp outing for Kansas City. The game moved fast early, with both starters settling in and the score stuck at 0-0 through three innings.
Minnesota did at least make an early dent against Cameron. Ryan Jeffers opened the game with a one-out single in the top of the first, the Twins’ first hit against him this time around. But that was all they managed in the inning.
Kremer answered with a clean first of his own, working a 1-2-3 frame on just 12 pitches.
The Twins finally put together a threat in the fourth. They loaded the bases with a walk and two singles, including a Royce Lewis bunt, and then took a 1-0 lead on a groundout double play off the bat of Victor Caratini. With two outs and a runner left at third, Cameron escaped with only the one run allowed.
Kansas City answered in the fifth. With one out and the bases loaded, Kyle Isbel lifted a sacrifice fly to tie it at 1-1.
That score held until the seventh, when Michael Massey turned on an A.J. Minter pitch for a solo homer and a 2-1 Royals lead.
From there, Cameron slammed the door. After the fourth inning, the Twins never found another baserunner against him, going silent from the fifth through the eighth. He finished with eight innings, nine strikeouts, and just five baserunners allowed.
Minnesota’s other deadline addition, Jeff Hoffman, made his Twins debut in the eighth and struck out two in a scoreless inning.
Former Twins prospect Steven Cruz handled the ninth for Kansas City and picked up his third save of the year.
The two clubs will meet once more in Kansas City before Minnesota heads to Milwaukee for a three-game series against the first-place Brewers over the weekend. Bailey Ober, who is 7-3 with a 4.45 ERA, gets the start for the Twins against right-hander Michael Wacha, who is 5-8 with a 3.51 ERA.
Ober faced the Royals last week and went six innings while allowing three runs, two earned, with three strikeouts and two walks.
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