DETROIT – This is how it was supposed to look. When the Twins added three pitchers at the Trade Deadline, they had nights almost exactly like Tuesday in mind.
Dean Kremer pitched five strong innings, while A.J. Minter and Jeff Hoffman turned in key performances over the course of four scoreless innings from the Twins’ bullpen as Minnesota boosted its faltering playoff hopes with a 3-2 win against the Tigers at Comerica Park on Tuesday.
Righties Andrew Morris and Yoendrys Gómez also played key roles, making it a textbook example of the kinds of wins the club envisioned five weeks ago. Morris and Gómez were the two relievers who stabilized the Twins’ bullpen enough as the Deadline approached to help the front office feel confident in adding to the group.
It was a clean, well-played win that also featured some exemplary defense, the kind they’ll need more of over the final 2 1/2 weeks to make a charge up the standings.
“Good victory all around,” said manager Derek Shelton.
But especially so for the bullpen. After Kremer’s five effective innings, Shelton moved aggressively to get to his relief corps, with all of his top arms available. Minter, acquired from the Mets, pitched a perfect sixth. He got one out in the seventh, but a walk, a stolen base and a Ryan Jeffers throwing error put a runner on third with one out when Morris came into the game, giving the rookie one of his toughest tasks yet.
Morris didn’t blink. He struck out Hao-Yu Lee and got Zach McKinstry to fly out, escaping the jam. Hoffman and Gómez pitched a perfect eighth and ninth, respectively, with Luke Keaschall’s nifty diving catch ending the game.
“You don’t want to put a lot of pressure on [new acquisitions], but at the same time, you came here for a reason – to help the team,” said Minter. “And you’re expected to do your job. And if you look at teams in the past that go on to win the World Series and go deep in the postseason, those Trade Deadline acquisitions, they have to step up.”
Kremer, Minter and Hoffman all joined the team in the final days leading up to the Deadline, with the hope that they’d deliver key performances in big games as the Twins chased a postseason spot. A team slide in August put some damper on the big games part, as Minnesota is clinging to life in the AL Wild Card race, but on Tuesday, all three hurlers did their part.
Kremer got help from a line-drive double play to get out of a perilous first, then mostly breezed through the next three innings. He allowed a two-run homer in the sixth before being lifted, but overall it was one of his stronger showings of the last four weeks.
“Felt pretty good,” he said. “Huge props to the defense and to Jeffers back there, and the timely hitting.”
Then it was up to the relievers, who all turned in strong showings. Minter has been exceptional since the trade, and Hoffman has locked in lately after a few shaky outings.
“Those guys, they have so much experience,” said Morris. “They’ve been absolutely killing it. It’s been a pleasure to get to learn from them, for sure. They’ve been killing it. It's been fun to see them work.”
Morris arguably got the biggest outs of the night to stop the potential tying run from scoring from third in the seventh.
“I just told myself I was going to focus on my breath and my execution, and just go out there and go at them,” he said. “It’s hard to think about the situation. You know the infield’s in. You know where the guy is, obviously. But one pitch at a time, one batter at a time. It was nice to get a handshake at the end of it.”
It was all needed because it was a relatively quiet night for the Twins’ offense. Josh Bell’s sacrifice fly and Kody Clemens’ 25th homer of the year were all the scoring Minnesota could muster against Drew Anderson and the Tigers’ bullpen. Minnesota (69-76) remained 4 1/2 games behind Cleveland (74-72) for the final American League Wild Card spot, with three teams between them.