Kremer Dominates, Twins Explode for 9 in Rout of Baltimore
Dean Kremer threw 7.0 innings of one-hit ball, and Minnesota's offense erupted for a six-run seventh to put this one away early. The Twins beat Baltimore 9-5 on August 10, with Austin Martin, Josh Bell, and Ryan Jeffers each doing serious damage.
The story of the night was Kremer's performance on the mound — 7.0 innings, 1 hit, 1 earned run, 1 walk, and 7 strikeouts is the kind of line that makes an offense's job feel almost unfair. Martin got things started in the third, homering to left center 399 feet out, swinging Minnesota's win probability from 52% to 65% — a 13-point jump on a single swing. Baltimore answered in the fourth when Henderson scored on a strikeout and Keaschall came home on a Culpepper sacrifice fly to knot it at 1, then push ahead 2-1. But that lead evaporated fast.
The seventh inning is where this game was decided. Jeffers singled to left, scoring both Kreidler and Martin to make it 4-1. Then Bell went deep to center — 407 feet — with Jeffers and Lewis aboard, and suddenly it was 7-1 Minnesota. That three-run shot from Bell, who finished 2-5 with 3 RBI, looks like the knockout blow in retrospect. Jeffers was everywhere in this one: 2-4, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored, delivering in both the seventh and eighth innings. The Twins tacked on two more in the eighth — Jeffers doubled to center to score Martin, and Lewis singled home Jeffers — pushing the lead to 9-3.
Baltimore made it cosmetically interesting in the eighth and ninth. Mayo doubled to left to score Taveras, then scored himself on an Encarnacion-Strand groundout to make it 3-7. In the ninth, Mayo singled to right to score both Alonso and Holliday, bringing the final to 5-9. Mayo finished 2-4 with 3 RBI and appears to be one of the few Orioles who showed up to compete — but Baltimore's Trevor Rogers had already surrendered 4 hits and 2 earned runs in just 4.0 innings before the bullpen inherited a losing cause. Minnesota's offense was too deep, too consistent, and Kremer's near-masterpiece on the mound made this one feel decided long before the final out.