The starter the front office added from Baltimore now gets his first turn with a playoff spot one game away.
Nothing about Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium looked like a playoff push.
The Minnesota Twins lost 8-2 to Kansas City for their third defeat in a row, with Joe Ryan grinding through another start that did not look like him and a lineup that turned seven hits and four walks into two runs.
It was the first game since the front office spent Monday's trade deadline adding to this roster, and for one night the new-look club gave its fans nothing to hold onto.
A Long Night
Randy Dobnak, who pitched in the Twins organization from 2019 through 2025, held his old team to one run over five innings after shutting Minnesota out for seven at Target Field last week.
Kansas City got to Ryan right away, as Bobby Witt Jr. and Jac Caglianone hit back-to-back singles in the first before Salvador Perez brought one home with a sacrifice fly and Michael Massey doubled in another.
Alan Roden answered with a sacrifice fly in the fourth, but Witt doubled home two more in the fifth and later scored on a fielder's choice after a throwing error moved him to third.
Josh Bell hit a solo homer in the eighth before Starling Marte and Kyle Isbel drove in three more runs in the bottom half.
Ryan was charged with five runs, four earned, over 5.1 innings, and his record fell to 6-8 with a 3.65 ERA.
Royce Lewis went 4 for 4 with a double on a quiet night for the lineup.
The Race Is Still Right There
The standings are why nobody should look away.
Minnesota sits one game behind Cleveland for the final American League wild card spot, and the Guardians and first-place White Sox both lost on Tuesday.
The Twins also get two more games against a Kansas City club that sits ten games out of the race, tonight and in Thursday's finale, before a weekend series in Milwaukee.
Royce Lewis, who walked off this same Royals team in late July, keeps giving the lineup chances, but with Byron Buxton on the injured list with a right hip impingement until Saturday at the earliest, Minnesota needs the version of the offense from its three-homer night against Houston last month.
Kremer Takes the Ball
Help arrives Wednesday, because Dean Kremer makes his first Twins start in the middle game at Kauffman Stadium.
Minnesota sent outfield prospect Jhomnardo Reyes to Baltimore for the right-hander and lined him up for this series soon after.
Kremer went 1-4 with a 6.50 ERA in seven starts this season, but the front office is betting on more.
"He's a guy that over the last couple years has done a really good job," Twins manager Derek Shelton told MLB.com when the deal was made.
"I know he had the quad strain earlier in the year. He's had a couple tough outings. But I think as we've talked about, we like the stuff. I think we think there's some ways forward."
With the bullpen already remade around Jeff Hoffman and A.J. Minter, a steady night from Kremer would answer the biggest question left on this roster.
