Dean Kremer had a few struggles in his maiden outing of the spring for the Baltimore Orioles this afternoon in Sarasota. But it wasn’t unlike other starters thus far. Similar to what we saw two days ago, Kremer left the game with two outs in the first inning, only to return to pitch the second. Remember, everything goes this spring; we even saw a half-inning with only two outs today! Kremer’s line: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 1 K.
Boston put two runs up in the first against Kremer, one on an infield RBI-single, and one on a walk with the bases loaded. Duran would also add a solo homer off Kremer in the second, giving Boston a 3-0 lead. While Kremer didn’t have the greatest outing, we did see Baltimore native Bruce Zimmerman have perhaps the best outing of the spring for any Orioles’ pitcher, giving up a hit and striking out four over two innings.
The Birds got on the board in the last of the third when Cedric Mullins smacked an RBI-double to cut the Boston lead to 3-1. The O’s would later load the bases, bringing Anthony Santander to the plate. He would draw a walk, cutting the lead to 3-2.
And the great thing about scoring on a walk like that is that the bases remain loaded. And that allowed Pedro Severino to plate a run with a sac fly-RBI. And before we knew it, the game was knotted at three.
This was another one of those games where the teams agreed before the game to shorten it – in this case to six innings. I’ve written this before, but I’m not a fan of this practice. I get that these are exhibition games and all, however I would submit that the integrity of the game should still be preserved. And part of that is nine innings. Furthermore 1700+ people did pay to see the game today. I’d hate to buy a ticket only to find out that a truncated version of the game is going to occur.
Luckily however, the shortened game only meant that the Birds had to hurry up if they wanted to win. They promptly put two runners on in the last of the fifth, and brought Ramon Urias to the plate. Urias would smack a three-run homer, giving the Birds a 6-3 lead. And a 6-3 victory.
Urias had some good moments towards the end of last season, and he’s definitely in the mix to make the roster this year. And that home run was no cheapie. It was a shot, that would have been good in most big league parks.
The Orioles head to Dunedin tomorrow to take on the Toronto Blue Jays at TD Ballpark. Matt Harvey gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Hyun-Jim Ryu. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.
Birdland Crush 