‘Just had that one bad inning’ – 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 amid his final 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 posted 3.4 wins above replacement for Baltimore, according to Baseball-Reference — topping Machado’s 2.5 with Los Angeles — and 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 as Baltimore’s bullpen struggled behind him and its offense scuffled again. 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.

“Definitely kind of a full circle moment,” Kremer said of facing Machado. “It’s definitely weird being on the other side.”

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.

“Just had that one bad inning,” manager Brandon Hyde said.

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 Hyde to bring in left-hander Cionel Pérez to face Soto. But Tatis scored without Soto needing to do 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.

“He’s a very aggressive base runner and very instinctual,” Hyde said. “You have to be a little bit more aware. We have to have a little bit better awareness on the field in that situation. But plus runner, great runner with instincts, and we didn’t execute at all.”

First baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who homered in the sixth for Baltimore’s only other run, said he saw Tatis creeping toward home, breaking into a sprint as Pérez came set.

“The timing was perfect,” Mountcastle said.

The rubber-match loss cut Baltimore’s lead in the American League East to two games. The Orioles next head to Oakland to face the MLB-worst Athletics, going 3-3 thus far on a three-city West Coast trip that opened in Seattle against a pitching staff Hyde repeatedly called the majors’ best. In the six games, a group of opposing starters that Mountcastle called “No. 1 guys for a lot of teams” — Seattle’s Luis Castillo, George Kirby and Bryce Miller and San Diego’s Yu Darvish, Michael Wacha and Blake Snell — have held Baltimore to nine runs (eight earned) in 38 2/3 innings for a 1.86 ERA, with the Orioles averaging under three runs per game.

“We did not score enough runs; that’s the bottom line,” Hyde said. “We’ve faced six really good starters so far on this trip and have had a tough time scoring runs against starting pitching. You just can’t get four or five hits a game and expect to win.

“I think it’s middle of August. I think we’re a little banged up. But we faced six excellent starters.”

Orioles at Athletics

Friday, 9:40 p.m.

TV: MASN2, MLB Network (out of market only)

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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