Twins 9, Orioles 5: Kremer Beats His Old Club, Martin Stacks Four Hits

August 10, 2026 - Minneapolis - Dean Kremer spent years throwing for the club in the other dugout. On Monday he spent seven innings reminding them what that looked like from the wrong side.

One hit. One run. Seven strikeouts. The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-5 at Target Field, and the night belonged to a pitcher in his second start since the trade deadline and an outfielder who would not make an out when it mattered.

One hit for seven innings, then the bats woke up

Kremer did not need a blowout. He needed the version of himself Baltimore used to run out every fifth day. He got it. Trevor Rogers kept Minnesota close for four innings (two runs, four hits), and for a while Target Field was watching a 2-1 game that felt like it might stay there.

Austin Martin refused. He singled in the first. He led off the third with a homer to left-center. He laid down a bunt single in the seventh. He singled again in the eighth. Four hits, three runs, a steal, a double mixed in. The kind of night that makes a lineup look longer than it is.

Through six it was still a 2-1 game. Martin had already homered. Rogers had already left. Kremer was still dealing, and Target Field had the version of a deadline-revenge start that stays tight until someone blinks.

The seventh is where Baltimore blinked. Martin reached on the bunt. Ryan Jeffers singled him home. Royce Lewis walked. Josh Bell hit a three-run homer, and a 2-1 grind became 7-1 before the Orioles could get the inning back in the barn. Jeffers doubled in another run in the eighth. Lewis singled. 9-3, and Kremer was already in the dugout with the win. Minnesota finished with 14 hits and no errors. That is not a cheap nine-run night. That is a lineup finally cashing the traffic Kremer kept handing it.

The old laundry does not get a farewell gift

This was Kremer's second start in a Twins uniform after Minnesota sent outfield prospect Jhomnardo Reyes to Baltimore at the deadline. Facing your former club in start number two is a script writers overuse. The line is why it still works: seven innings, one hit, one walk, seven punchouts, no homers. Quality start. Win. The Orioles put one run on him in the fourth and spent the rest of his outing hitting air.

Baltimore did not go quietly after he left. Two in the eighth. Two in the ninth. Coby Mayo went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI, which is a real night in a loss that will not show up in any highlight package outside Maryland. Taylor Rogers allowed two earned on three hits in the eighth. The ninth added two more. 9-5 is still a win. It is also a reminder that a six-run lead after seven is not a shutout.

Minnesota is 59-61. Baltimore is 57-62. Neither club is writing October speeches. Nights like this are how a .500-adjacent team decides whether the deadline additions were decorations or a rotation.

A four-hit table-setter and a three-run hammer

Martin's night is the one you remember if you watched. Four times on base the honest way, plus the bunt, plus the steal. Bell's homer is the one you remember if you only saw the scoreboard flip from 2-1 to 7-1. Jeffers driving in three from the catcher's spot is the one that tells you the middle of this order can still pile on when someone on the mound gives them a clean inning to work with.

Rogers' four innings were not a disaster. Two runs in four is a start you can win behind. He could not, because Kremer threw the better version of the same assignment and Minnesota's seventh inning turned a pitchers' evening into a laugher. That is the whole game. One former Oriole, one four-hit leadoff man, one three-run swing.

AthX Engine angle

Kremer led every pitcher on the Monday slate with 28 AthX Engine pitching fantasy points. Martin led every hitter with 14. Minnesota finished with 16 team fantasy points, third among all clubs. Baltimore landed at zero, which is what a one-hit-through-seven loss looks like even after you scratch across four late.

Track Kremer, Martin, and the Twins on the marketplace. AthX Engine scores what happened. Share price is a separate number.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday final, ESPN recap, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 10, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*