Dean Kremer pitched well enough to win this afternoon for the Baltimore Orioles. That isn’t to say that he pitched “well,” but well enough. But end of the day, it wasn’t enough to avoid the Orioles being swept out of Detroit. Kremer’s line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 3 K.
Kremer issued two walks in the second inning. They were sandwiched around two outs, so the inning wasn’t a total disaster. That is until Baez’s two-RBI double gave Detroit a 2-0 lead.
However Kremer did settle in after that. He started recording outs, and he seemed to stabilize. It served as a reminder however that Detroit and these other central division teams often pick you to death by paper cuts. Their attitude is we scored two, and that means you have to score at least three to beat us.
The Orioles once again struggled with runners in scoring position, going 0-for-9. Jorge Mateo stole two bases in the game, getting runners into scoring position. But they couldn’t bring him or anyone else home.
Kremer issued another walk in the fifth to Baez. With one out, Carpenter would fly out innocently to right field. On the pop out, Baez would tag up and go to second base. Something that seemed to catch the Orioles off guard. It certainly caught me off guard.
I thought it was an unnecessary risk to try to take the extra base. With one out, it seemed like a stretch because it was far from a given that he would make it – could have resulted in an inning-ending double-play. Instead, Torres’ RBI-single scored Baez, and the O’s trailed 3-0.
Kremer would surrender an RBI-single to Jung in the sixth before exiting. Jung would later score on an RBI-single by Dingler. Ironically the Orioles got off easy on that play. Detroit’s aggression worked against them at the tail end of the sequence. The trail runner attempted to score after oversliding the bag at third, and was easily thrown out at home plate.
But to show they weren’t kidding, Detroit challenged the play, saying that catcher Gary Sanchez blocked the plate. The call on the field was upheld, however it’s just another example of teams refusing to leave even one run out on the field against the Orioles. Even in falling short (on that play at least), Detroit was aggressive.
Torres’ two-RBI single in the seventh opened the game wide open, as Detroit cruised to a 7-0 win and swept the series. And even up 5-0 in the seventh, they still pressed. The first run got into scoring position on a steal. Detroit wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
The Jung RBI-single early in the game was soft contact. Which fits right into the motif of the Orioles trying to square balls up for solid contact, only to have them find a fielder’s mitt. This while opposing teams almost do less and get more. Needless to say, it’s frustrating.
Adley Rutschman was out of today’s lineup with a sore wrist after getting hit blocking a ball yesterday. Cedric Mullins was out after being under the weather for the better part of a week, and Jordan Westburg was out with a sore hamstring. Brandon Hyde said that all three could have been available off the bench.
The Orioles now return home to open a three-game set against New York at Camden Yards tomorrow. The Birds are yet to announce a starter, but whomever he is he’ll be opposed by New York’s Will Warren. Game time is set for just after 6:30 PM.
Birdland Crush 