MINNEAPOLIS -- When the Twins acquired Dean Kremer from the Orioles prior to last week’s Trade Deadline, it did not grab headlines. The club’s front office, however, was confident that it had acquired a quality starting pitcher: Someone resembling the durable, reliable pitcher Kremer had been from 2022-25, not the guy with the ugly ERA through seven starts this year.
But even they couldn’t have seen this coming.
Kremer was absolutely brilliant in his first home start with the Twins, shutting down his former mates over seven superb innings as Minnesota shook off a frustrating road trip with a 9-5 win in the opener of a three-game series. Throwing his fastball more than before, Kremer looked like much more than a depth piece, and rather like a potentially significant addition to the Twins’ rotation as they pursue a playoff spot.
Pitching aggressively and efficiently, Kremer held the visitors to one run on one hit with one walk, striking out seven. And both the run and the hit were scarcely his fault. Jackson Holliday beat out a grounder with one out in the fourth, and Gunnar Henderson scored on the back end of a first-and-third delayed double-steal attempt (though he was not credited with a steal).
Other than that? Nothing. Kremer did not allow a baserunner in any of his other six innings. He needed only 89 pitches, throwing more than two-thirds of them for strikes, and likely would’ve pitched longer if the Twins' offense hadn’t broken the game open in the bottom of the seventh.
The performance was extremely welcome for a team that took a series of late losses on a 3-6 road trip over the previous 10 days. It’s also a very good sign for a team currently without ace Joe Ryan, who is on the injured list due to a left glute strain.