Minnesota is unable to avoid the sweep despite once holding a 5-0 lead.
Dean Kremer had the kind of start the Minnesota Twins needed Sunday. For five innings, he had the Phillies mostly under control and Minnesota had built a five-run lead behind a grand slam from Brooks Lee and a solo homer from Kody Clemens.
Then the sixth inning changed everything.
Kremer opened the frame with a walk, allowed a single and then issued another walk before Alec Bohm turned a four-run deficit into a one-run game with one swing. Philadelphia eventually completed the comeback, beating Minnesota 7-5 and sweeping the series.
For Kremer, the frustrating part was how clearly he could identify the point where the outing started to unravel.
“Overall, a lot of positives,” Kremer told reporters postgame via MLB.com. “Cruised through the first five, ran into some trouble in the sixth, and should have been better there, and stuck to my strengths.”
That last part may have been the biggest takeaway.
Kremer had spent most of the afternoon following the game plan the Twins had prepared. Through five innings, it was working. He was in complete enough control that manager Derek Shelton allowed him to face another hitter after the first signs of trouble in the sixth, with Kremer at just 67 pitches.
Shelton told reporters postgame that the decision was difficult only because Kremer had been so good up to that point.
“He was at 67 pitches and was in complete control,” Shelton said via Twins TV.
The problem was that Kremer couldn't carry that command into the next part of the inning. After the first two walks and a single, he needed to find a way out without giving Philadelphia the kind of pitch it could turn into a big swing.
Bohm got one anyway.
The three-run homer cut Minnesota's lead to 5-4, and the Twins never really regained control. Andrew Morris allowed three more runs in the eighth, including the go-ahead two-run single from Bryan De La Cruz, while Minnesota finished the afternoon 1-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
That made Kremer's comments afterward more revealing. He wasn't dismissive of the loss or trying to explain it away. He pointed directly to the inning that got away from him.
Minnesota has now gone 4-10 in August, and Shelton acknowledged how difficult the stretch has become, citing walk-off losses against the Mariners and Brewers during that stretch.
Still, Kremer sounded convinced the group has enough to pull itself out of the stretch.
“There’s a lot of fight,” Kremer said. “The offense is very relentless and they want to get on, they want to get knocks. They want to put up runs and they play pretty good defense. So, sticking to our strengths and kind of putting those bats together. And then as a pitching staff, we’ll do our job.”
Sunday was a reminder of how thin the margin has become for Minnesota.
Kremer had the lead, the pitch count and five strong innings behind him. He just couldn't finish the sixth the same way he started the game, and Philadelphia made the Twins pay for it.
