Royals 2, Twins 1: Noah’s Arc

This week, my young nephew is attending summer Vacation Bible School. In terms of biblical tales involving heroes, he could have gotten a similar education by flipping on the ballgame tonight and observing Noah Cameron‘s mound arc sinking the Minnesota Twins.

The starting pitchers—Dean Kremer in his MN debut & Cameron for the Kansas City Royals—matched zeros for the first three innings in this contest. Kremer because he had solid stuff—Cameron because he is a corporeal being in the past month who throws with his left arm.

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Pesky Portsider. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

In the top of the fourth inning, the Twins built an exceedingly odd rally when Josh Bell walked, Kody Clemens hit into what looked to be a fielder’s choice until Bell deked out the KC infield by simply stopping on the way to 2B, and Royce Lewis bunted for a hit. Bases loaded…zero outs…time for the offense to break out, right?!

Somehow these batsmen made taking the lead anticlimactic: a Victor Caratini GIDP RBI followed by a Brooks Lee strikeout. 1-0 MN.

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Bell bamboozles the Royals IF. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

In B5, it was the Royals who’d dink-&-dunk their way (two singles & a walk) to bases loaded and one out. Kyle Isbel would sock a sac fly to tie the game, followed by a a 346-ft moonshot from Carter Jensen—into Austin Martin‘s glove a few feet from the fence. Phew! 1-1 tie.

That would be it for the MN-debuting Kremer: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 88 pitches.

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Sharp, if short. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

After Tommy Nance tossed a scoreless 6th, Michael Massey mashed an A.J. Minter meatball 422 feet over the RF fence to lead off B7. 2-1 KC.

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Lefty on lefty crime. (Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images)

Jeff Hoffman would make his Twins debut in B8 and set the Royals down 1-2-3 with 2 Ks.

Circling back to Cameron, his final line tonight: 8 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K.

There would be no need for a B9. KC reliever Steven Cruz entered and retired the side on 16 pitches, 0 H, & 1 K.

Your Final: Kansas City Royals 2, Minnesota Twins 1.

After upper management patched some bullpen holes, it suddenly ceases to matter because Twins lumber-wielders couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat (maybe an ark?) right now.

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Another frustrating, punchless loss to a worse club. Mandatory Credit: Peter Aiken-Imagn Images

Kremer & Hoffman: Solid Twins Territory debuts.

The entire offense (again): This is getting ridiculous. Two hits & 9 K’s.

falcontimmy’s single-word exclamation about sums this one up

• One more with KC tomorrow night, followed by a trip across the border to Cheeseville over the weekend.

One more with KC tomorrow night, followed by a trip across the border to Cheeseville over the weekend.