Dean Kremer had a good outing in his return to the majors with the Baltimore Orioles. He was called up to make the start last night in Cleveland. First off, he had to wait an additional hour due to a rain delay. But some odd circumstances worked against Kremer, and the O’s. Kremer’s line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 4 R (3 earned), 0 BB, 2 K.
Kremer gave up a leadoff single in the first, and then Rosario appeared to foul a pitch off. However upon further review it appeared that the ball hit Rosario as opposed to the bat. So the umpires awarded him first base after an instant replay review, giving Cleveland runners at first and second with nobody out.
However this set off manager Brandon Hyde, who argued that Rosario had swung on the pitch. And it was a legitimate beef. After the game Hyde said he was just asking the umpire to ask for help, which apparently didn’t happen:
I was arguing the check swing. Understand that ball hit him in the finger but wanted to see if they’d ask for help. First base umpire said he didn’t go on the swing and threw me out for telling him he missed it.
Quote courtesy of Roch Kubatko, MASNsports
Kremer allowed both runners to move into scoring position on a wild pitch, and then induced Ramirez to pop a pitch up into left field. it appeared to be a routine play, which perhaps would have ended up as a sac fly. However remember that rain delay from before? Yeah, about that…
…DJ Stewart slipped on wet grass trying to get to the ball, allowing it to fall for an RBI-single. One could argue that it would have been a sac fly anyways, but that‘s a tough break. Cleveland would plate two more runs in the inning, one on a sac fly and the other on an RBI-single.
The good news is that Kremer settled down after that first inning. And he ended up pitching a decent outing, albeit in a losing effort. DJ Stewart would get the O’s on the board in the fourth with an RBI-groundout, which was followed by another RBI-groundout by Freddy Galvis. The teams would also trade runs in the sixth and seventh, with the Orioles’ coming on an RBI-single by Maikel Franco.
Whether or not the series of events in the first inning hurt Kremer or not is another story. But they were still a bizarre series of events. But that‘s baseball. In the words of Gilda Radner (as her great character, Rosanne Rosanadanna), “if it’s not one thing, it’s another thing!”
The series continues tonight at Progressive Field. Matt Harvey gets the start for the O’s, and he’ll be opposed by Cleveland’s Cal Quantrill. Game time is set for just after 7 PM.
Birdland Crush 