Dean Kremer got his revenge.
Now the Baltimore Orioles will try to get revenge for Kremer’s revenge.
One night after Kremer shut down his former team, which shipped him to Minnesota before the trade deadline, the Orioles will look to bounce back. They will take on the Twins in the second installment of a three-game series on Tuesday evening in Minneapolis.
Minnesota held on for a 9-5 win in the series opener on Monday thanks in large part to Kremer, who limited the Orioles to one run on one hit in seven innings. It was his first career appearance against the Orioles, his team from 2020 until last week.
“We’ve seen Dean do that before,” Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday said. “It sucks that he did it to us.”
The Twins will go for a series win as they look to keep the pressure on the first-place Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. Minnesota is two games below .500 but trails the White Sox by only 3 1/2 games for the division lead and is just 1 1/2 games off the final AL wild-card position.
Baltimore is five games below .500 and three games back of the Texas Rangers, who hold the last AL wild-card spot.
Twins right-hander Bailey Ober (7-3, 4.45 ERA) is set to make his 18th start of the season on Tuesday. Ober will try to post his third quality start in a row, and he is seeking his first victory since July 17.
In his most recent performance, Ober drew a no-decision on Thursday after limiting the Kansas City Royals to three runs on six hits in six innings. He threw 50 of 74 pitches for strikes.
Ober has faced the Orioles six times in his career. He is 1-1 with a 3.13 ERA in those starts, having walked eight and struck out 27 in 31 2/3 innings. In his lone meeting with Baltimore this year, Ober lasted four innings and permitted three runs in a no-decision on March 29.
Baltimore will counter with right-hander Brandon Young (8-3, 3.43 ERA), who will make his 20th start. Young is looking to earn his first victory since July 19.
On Thursday against the Los Angeles Angels, Young took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out four.
This will be Young’s first career appearance against Minnesota.
Twins outfielder Byron Buxton remains sidelined because of a right hip injury, but he offered reason for optimism after taking batting practice and running the bases before the Monday game.
Twins general manager Jeremy Zoll indicated that Buxton could return sometime this week.
“The plan is to see how he comes in (Tuesday),” Zoll said. “We’re just trying to get a sense of how he’s recovering from all the activities, and then (we’re) hopeful for activation within the next few days.”
Buxton knows that he will have to be smart running the bases to avoid aggravating the injury. Caution does not come easily to the veteran, who prefers to be aggressive in his running.
“That’ll probably be the hardest part for me,” Buxton said. “Other than figuring out the running part is figuring out how to contain it. … It’s just (about) keeping me on the field now. I’m getting back to feeling good, so I want to stay on the field.”
–Field Level Media
