KANSAS CITY, Mo. — They added a bunch of pitching over the last month, but perhaps the Minnesota Twins also needed a bat. At the very least, the Twins needed to discover a way to get to Kansas City Royals starting pitcher Noah Cameron.
They did neither since the last time they faced Cameron, a week ago, and he carved them up once again Wednesday night.
For the fourth time this season, Cameron, who’s been a poor pitcher otherwise, had the Twins’ number. He limited the Twins to a run and two hits over eight innings, and Kansas City’s offense did enough for a 2-1 victory at Kauffman Stadium.
Cameron’s latest gem against the Twins overshadowed a solid debut for starting pitcher Dean Kremer, who limited the Royals to a run in five innings. It also extended the Twins’ losing streak to four games, though they didn’t lose ground to the Chicago White Sox or Cleveland Guardians for a second consecutive night.
“He’s seemed to be a little bit of a nemesis for us,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said. “He’s kept us at bay the whole season. The only silver lining is we don’t have to face him again.”
For an instant, the Twins nearly opened the floodgates against Cameron.
Josh Bell opened the fourth inning with a walk, and his heads-up base running on a groundball allowed Kody Clemens to avoid hitting into a double play with both men safe. Royce Lewis then extended his career-long hitting streak to 10 games with a bunt that loaded the bases with no outs.
Victor Caratini then hit a sharp grounder up the middle that appeared to be ticketed for a base hit, only for Bobby Witt Jr. to make a lunging grab and start a double play. While the Twins took a 1-0 lead on the play, Cameron escaped without further damage, striking out Brooks Lee, one of the left-hander’s nine strikeouts.
“Play of the game,” Shelton said.
Cameron didn’t bend, nor did he come close to bending the rest of the way. He retired 14 straight batters to finish his start against an offense that has sputtered since the All-Star break.
“He’s seemed to be a little bit of a nemesis for us,” Twins manager Derek Shelton said of Royals starter Noah Cameron, who has shut the Twins down all season. (Charlie Riedel / Associated Press)
Previously the American League’s top-scoring team, the Twins no longer hold that title, surpassed by the Houston Astros. The Twins lost their status by scoring only 64 runs over the past 18 games, including 11 contests with three or fewer runs scored. Part of the team’s struggles can be attributed to the absence of three-time All-Star Byron Buxton, who’s played only seven times since the team returned from the break.
The Twins have struggled with left-handed pitchers all season. Following Wednesday’s loss, Twins hitters have a .655 OPS against southpaws this season compared to a .745 against righties. While the Twins’ OPS against righties is the ninth best in baseball, they’re the fourth-worst team against lefties.
Cameron’s dominance against them this season illustrates it. A week ago, he carried a no-hitter against the Twins into the seventh inning, a game Minnesota won on Clemens’ walk-off grand slam.
Against the rest of the league, Cameron has a 5.40 ERA with 88 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings. When facing the Twins, Cameron has a 0.67 ERA with 28 strikeouts in 27 innings.
“He had great stuff again,” Twins shortstop Ryan Kreidler said. “Executed well. Felt like he kind of changed his usage with the changeup and the cutter a little bit, kind of where he was throwing them, when he was throwing them. … He executed again, and we just didn’t really put the bat on the ball.”
Still, Kansas City’s offense didn’t muster much against Kremer, either.
Kremer was added to the rotation Friday, in part because the Twins didn’t want their plans wrecked by an injury to a starter. He immediately became a more important piece when Joe Ryan traveled back to Minneapolis on Wednesday to be evaluated by the team doctor. Kremer made a strong first impression, leaning on his fastball early on.
Kremer retired the Royals in order in the first inning, marking the first time on this trip a Twins pitcher didn’t surrender a run in the opening stanza.
Kremer faced one batter over the minimum through four innings. When he ran into trouble in the fifth, Kremer escaped with minimal damage. Though he loaded the bases, Kremer allowed only a run on a tying sac fly to Kyle Isbel, escaping the jam with a deep flyout by Carter Jensen.
Kremer allowed one run and three hits in five innings.
“They’re definitely on the peskier side,” Kremer said. “Pretty satisfied leaving with just one run after having the bases loaded with (one) out. But we came up with a plan and executed to the best of our ability and came out on top.”
The effort allowed Shelton to roll out his newly acquired bullpen. Shy of A.J. Minter surrendering a go-ahead solo homer to Michael Massey in the seventh, Twins relievers looked the part.
A day after he arrived from the Toronto Blue Jays, Jeff Hoffman debuted with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning.
“I wish I could take one pitch back,” Minter said. “I thought Kremer did an unbelievable job, especially the first time, his debut here. You couldn’t ask more out of him and even the bullpen. Just one pitch and I hate that it cost us the game.”
Unfortunately, the Twins’ lack of offense made the Minter mistake costly. Now, they need to find their resilience once again.
“We’ve got to find a way, which we’ve done all year, figure out a way to create more offense, more opportunities,” Shelton said.
