The Twins’ Sunday loss to the Phillies didn’t just finish off a sweep. It left Derek Shelton sounding like a manager who’s had about enough of the month his club has been grinding through.
Minnesota watched a 5-0 lead disappear at Target Field in front of an announced crowd of 29,614, and the result pushed the club to 60-65. It was the Twins’ 10th loss in 14 games, and their playoff picture took another hit, with their American League postseason odds sitting at 18% according to playoffstatus.com.
Shelton didn’t hide how he felt afterward. He was also testy with Twins.TV on-field reporter Audra Martin when she asked about the decision to leave Dean Kremer in the game.
#MNTwins manager Derek Shelton postgame after being swept by the Phillies:
"We did not play well in this series… so yeah, it's very frustrating."
📹: @JTMessinger pic.twitter.com/LnV8Mt7mRe
- Will Hall (@WillHallKARE11) August 16, 2026
Shelton: “Yeah, it was really frustrating, the fact that Kremer was as good as he was for five innings, and then kind of lost his command a little bit there. But yeah, that’s an extremely frustrating loss.”
Reporter (Martin): “After a couple of walks, how tough was that decision [to keep Kremer in], you had a mound visit right before, how much were you kind of toying with [taking him out]?”
Shelton: “I mean, he was at 67 pitches and in complete control.”
Reporter: “Big picture-wise, you haven’t lost a lot of ground [in the AL Wild Card race], but being 4-10 in August, [do you] kinda get this team back on track?”
Shelton: “Yeah, we got walked off twice in Seattle and we got walked off in Milwaukee, and we did not play well in this series. We didn’t play well in the Field of Dreams game, we went 1-for-14 yesterday with runners in scoring position.
Today, we got the lead, weren’t able to add on, weren’t able to hold. So yeah, it’s very frustrating.”
That frustration comes with the schedule refusing to give Minnesota much breathing room. The Twins open Monday at home against the 70-54 Atlanta Braves, sitting 1.5 games back in the AL Wild Card race and six games behind the White Sox in the AL Central.
After the Braves series, the trip gets tougher. Minnesota is set to head west for six games in the Pacific Time Zone, beginning with three against the 67-58 San Diego Padres before another three against the Athletics.
There was also bad news on the health front. Austin Martin left Sunday’s game after suffering a left hamstring strain while unsuccessfully chasing a fly ball in left field, and the expectation is that he’ll land on the injured list before lineups are released for the 6:40 first pitch against Atlanta.
Martin will need an MRI to assess the injury and could end up on the 10-day injured list. If that happens, Walker Jenkins does not appear to be the replacement. Instead, the Twins are expected to look at Matt Wallner, Hendry Mendez or Emmanuel Rodriguez.
If Martin does go on the IL, Minnesota’s only right-handed hitting outfielder on the 40-man roster is rookie Gabriel González, who debuted earlier this season and owns a .720 OPS at Triple-A St. Paul.
The organization also has a run of left-handed outfielders on the 40-man in St. Paul, including Wallner, Rodriguez and Mendez.
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