Dean Kremer turned in perhaps his best outing of the season for the Baltimore Orioles last night. He stymied Kansas City from the beginning last night, minimizing base runners for the most part. Kremer’s line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K.
Kremer did his thing last night by doing what’s gotten him in trouble this year: pitching-to-contact. And Kansas City was putting the ball in play. They just weren’t going far.
However the Birds couldn’t get much going offensively, which posed a problem. For awhile it resembled one of the games in last year’s AL Wild Card series. The O’s were were getting great pitching, but the bats weren’t coming through. It was a stalemate, but if it was going to be at all like last year, eventually Kansas City was going to punch one through, right?
If it was going to be like last year, yes. But in fact, there was one difference. It was the Orioles who punched through.
Adley Rutschman led off the seventh with a double, bringing former Kansas City Royal, Ryan O’Hearn, to the plate. And O’Hearn struck one for the heart of Birdland, smacking a two-run home run. The game followed a similar pattern as those ill-fated playoff games last year, but it was the O’s who got going first.
The O’s would load the bases later in the inning, and Emmanuel Rivera’s RBI-single extended it to 3-0. Yennier Cano and Felix Bautista were both solid in the eighth and ninth respectively, and the Orioles took game one of the series.
Last year would have been different had it been this game. Heck, some games this year thus far would have been different. But you can only move forward. And the Orioles are.
The series continues this evening at Camden Yards. Tomoyuki Sugano gets the start for the Birds, and he’ll be opposed by Kansas City’s Kris Bubic. Game time is set for 7:15 PM.
Birdland Crush 