Baltimore Orioles’ bullpen spoils Ryan Mountcastle’s career day

He was greeted rudely, but the Baltimore Orioles’ Dean Kremer settled in nicely this afternoon. He gave up solo homers to Semien and Guerrero in the first inning before the crowd had even settled in. But he got it together, and pitched to a quality start. Kremer’s line: 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 6 K.

This is a game that Ryan Mountcastle won’t soon forget. For starters, he smacked a solo homer in the last of the second which cut the Toronto lead in half. Cedric Mullins would continue hot at the plate and inning later with a solo shot of his own, tying the game at two.

Mountcastle would come up again in the fourth with a runner on base. And his two-run homer gave the Birds the lead at 4-2. Mind you, that was his second homer of the day. Had he stopped there, he would have still had a darn good game. Incidentally, DJ Stewart added to the homer parade, going back-to-back with Mountcastle and smacking a solo shot – giving the O’s a 5-2 lead.

However remember a moment ago when I said Mountcastle could have stopped there and had a pretty good day? He didn’t do that. He came up again in the sixth, and – you guessed it – smacked a solo homer (his third home run of the game). You don’t get much better than that in terms of performing at the plate. Did we mention that Mountcastle was a rookie?!

After Toronto put one across in the top of the seventh, the Birds got it back on Mullins’ second homer of the game – a solo shot. The Orioles took a 7-4 lead into the top of the ninth. Life appeared to be good.

The Birds called on Paul Fry to close the game for the second consecutive game. He promptly loaded the bases and walked a run in. Bichette and Guerrero proceeded to smack two-RBI singles, giving Toronto a 9-7 lead. Grichuk would add an RBI-double, and the Birds fell 10-7. This despite Mountcastle’s three homers, and Mullins’ two.

Bichette hardly hit the ball hard, as it was a dying quail into right field. But Paul Fry hardly looked comfortable, and when that’s the case you don’t have to hit the ball hard. It’s tough to lose a game like that, with the opponent putting up six runs in the ninth inning to come from behind. But you have to get right back at it tomorrow.

Incidentally, Toronto’s starter Manoah was ejected with one out in the fourth inning after he hit Maikel Franco. This after the DJ Stewart solo home run. The benches and the bullpens emptied, but no real fight ensued. Just the Toronto pitcher being ejected.

The series concludes tomorrow at Camden Yards. Matt Harvey gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Toronto’s Hyun-Jin Ryu. Game time is set for just after 1 PM.