Dean Kremer bests Manny Machado, but Padres top Orioles, 5-2, in rubber match – The Denver Post

Five years later, determining the winner of the Manny Machado trade is a matter of nuance. The Los Angeles Dodgers reached but lost the World Series after the Orioles parted with the star infielder’s final half-season before free agency. The Orioles certainly would have liked to have done better in the deal, but even though only one member of Baltimore’s five-player return is still with the organization, he’s provided more value by himself than Machado did for the Dodgers.

Right-hander Dean Kremer was not the centerpiece of that July 2018 trade, but he’s grown into that role for Baltimore, partly by default. The other four prospects the Orioles received in that trade never amounted to much for them, but Kremer has developed into a reliable starter.

He showed as much Wednesday, when he faced Machado, now in his fifth year with the Padres, for the first time but took the loss in a 5-2 Orioles defeat. Machado, a six-time All-Star, went 0-for-3 against the 27-year-old, but the other members of San Diego’s lineup found holes against Kremer in a three-run third that accounted for all of their damage off him in his six innings. It was Kremer’s fifth quality start in eight second-half outings, with a 3.45 ERA in that span.

Kremer’s first two matchups with Machado came in identical situations, with two on and one out. In the first inning — with Baltimore leading 1-0 on Anthony Santander’s sacrifice fly — he got Machado to line out to left before Xander Bogaerts popped out to first. The rematch in the third came with the game tied, with Kremer opening the frame with a walk of No. 9 hitter Trent Grisham before consecutive singles from Ha-Seong Kim and Fernando Tatis Jr. He retired both Juan Soto and Machado, striking out the latter on a cutter, but Bogaerts and Jake Cronenworth both singled in runs before Kremer escaped the frame.

Kremer retired his final 10 batters, including a flyout to right from Machado in the fifth; Machado’s two outs in play went to Austin Hays and Anthony Santander, the only two current Orioles (74-47) he played with in Baltimore.

Shintaro Fujinami’s roller coaster tenure continued when he replaced Kremer in the seventh. A deep flyout opened the inning, but Grisham then homered to left. A groundout followed before a single from Tatis prompted manager Brandon Hyde to bring in left-hander Cionel Pérez to face Soto. But Tatis scored without Soto needing to anything, breaking for second and making it to third on Pérez’s wild pickoff throw before a straight steal of home ignited a sold-out Petco Park.

The rubber-match loss cut Baltimore’s lead in the American League East to two games.

This story will be updated.

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