MINNEAPOLIS — Target Field has not been a friendly ballpark to the Royals the last four seasons. Their loss on Friday dropped them to a 6-22 record since 2022, but if any pitcher could turn it around for them, it was rookie starter Noah Cameron.
Cameron has given the Royals at least five innings of work over his last five starts, and allowed no more than four runs in any of those appearances, pitching to a 2.43 ERA over 29 2/3 innings. He kept things on a roll in Saturday’s 2-0 win over the Twins, with 5 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball, allowing six hits, two walks, and striking out four, which was great, but even better was his ability to escape jams.
The Twins managed to get nine opportunities with runners in scoring position against Cameron, and came up short each time.
“Definitely just got myself into bad situations tonight,” Cameron said. “Thankfully, they didn’t capitalize on anything; definitely can’t do that every time out. It’s definitely one of those nights you throw some really good pitches in really big situations and thankfully I got out of it.”
They still kept Cameron on his toes with a couple of line drives that almost knocked him off his feet in the first, and a line drive up the middle in the sixth that barely missed his head.
Minnesota looked as though it’d get that opportunity against Cameron in the bottom of the fifth with runners on the corners and one out for Luke Keaschall. Keaschall flew out to right field on Cameron’s cutter, just barely missing a home run. Then came Royce Lewis, and Cameron gave Lewis the same treatment, a cutter inside that resulted in a flyout to left.
“I think it was just a pitch that, you know, in fastball counts, kind of a pitch that I go to often to show them something hard that kind of looks like a fastball, and then be able to get in on their hands. Thankfully, it was working really well tonight and got me out of some big jams, and yeah, just comfortable throwing it,” said Cameron on his cutter.
“Nobody wants to have all that traffic, but he pitches to contact,” said Royals manager Matt Quatraro. “He’s not somebody that’s trying to pitch around the edges. He walked a couple guys tonight; he got behind in some counts, even some of those counts he worked his way back into it.”
On the Twins’ side of the mound, Bailey Ober has been turning things around for himself against the Royals in 2025, despite the Royals winning all three of the games he’s started. He has a 1.45 ERA in 18 2/3 innings against the Royals this season, down considerably from his career ERA of 5.37.
It would take a bit for the Royals’ lineup to find their pitches in the zone. Ober retired the first eight batter before Kyle Isbel came up with a two-out single to set the table for the hitter with the least success against Ober: Maikel Garcia.
Garcia was 1-for-12 in his career against Ober entering the game, so for him to get an RBI double that scored Isbel to make it 1-0 in the third was a welcome surprise.
“I always see the ball good against him,” said Garcia. “He executes every pitch when I face him, and he gave me that fastball right on the outside corner, and I just hit the ball that way, and I’m glad I got a double, and Izzy can score.”
The Royals’ bullpen allowed only two hits in the final 3 1/3 innings against the Twins, as Hunter Harvey continued his scoreless streak of 10 2/3 innings to start his season.
Carlos Estévez recorded his American League-leading 29th save to bring the Royals to .500 on their road trip and set up a rubber match in the series finale against the Twins on Sunday.
“It’s really a deep pen, and when we can get to those guys with a lead, we feel good,” Quatraro said.
