Orioles drop third straight, 8-1 to Twins, as Dean Kremer and the offense stumble in rain-delayed game – The Denver Post

For just the second time this season, the Orioles have lost three straight games.

After a 1-hour, 26-minute rain delay, starting pitcher Dean Kremer was crushed, Baltimore’s bats mustered only four hits and the Orioles lost, 8-1, to the Minnesota Twins at Camden Yards.

Kremer, who entered Friday tied for the team lead with eight wins, was bombarded by the Twins, who scored in all four innings the right-hander pitched. In three-plus innings, Kremer surrendered seven runs as his ERA ballooned from 4.50 to 5.04.

“Got ahead of a lot of guys, just didn’t execute and put guys away,” Kremer said. “Bottom line, left some balls over the middle of the plate and got hurt.”

Austin Hays recorded two hits to boost his batting average to .316, but the rest of the Orioles’ lineup managed just two hits against starter Pablo López and Minnesota’s bullpen. Baltimore’s lone run came off the bat of Adley Rutschman, whose high fly ball in the sixth barely cleared the right field wall for his 11th homer of the season.

The seven-run margin of defeat is tied for Baltimore’s fourth-largest of the season. Three of their five worst losses have come with the Orioles wearing their City Connect uniforms, the new threads they wear Friday nights at home. They are 1-4 and have been outscored 40-10 in the uniforms.

The noncompetitive game was one of the Orioles’ most-attended at Camden Yards this season. With the popular floppy hat giveaway and a postgame concert by DJ Diesel (aka Shaquille O’Neal), an announced attendance of 34,792 — the club’s fifth-highest of the year — witnessed the drubbing.

The series-opening loss follows two straight defeats versus the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday and Wednesday. The last time the Orioles lost three straight games was May 6-8 when they dropped two to the Atlanta Braves and another to the Tampa Bay Rays. They followed that minor losing skid by winning four straight and 11 of their next 15.

After their win Monday, the Orioles were 19 games over .500 for the first time since 2014. Now, Baltimore is 48-32 and closer to fourth place in the American League East (4 1/2 games up) than of catching first-place Tampa Bay (six games back).

Kremer (8-4) went with a cutter-heavy approach against a Twins lineup with four left-handed hitters, throwing it 30 times out of 89 pitches, tied with his four-seamer as his most-used offering Friday. Entering Friday, Baseball Savant ranked Kremer’s cutter as his worst pitch with an opponent slugging percentage of .548. He allowed three hits off his cutter, including an RBI single by Alex Kirilloff and a two-run home run by Max Kepler in the third inning. Kepler, who entered with a career 1.162 OPS against the Orioles, has hit 10 homers in 108 plate appearances against Baltimore.

“Just a tough time executing,” manager Brandon Hyde said about Kremer. “We had a tough time the first four innings executing pitches. I think he tried to go back door to some of their lefties with his cutter and kind of left it middle in and homer. Yeah, just didn’t execute pitches tonight.”

The 27-year-old didn’t come out sharp, allowing three hits, including an RBI single to Royce Lewis, in a 27-pitch first inning. He then allowed a solo home run to Joey Gallo in the second. The two home runs brought Kremer’s season total to 19 — tied with teammate Tyler Wells and three other pitchers for the third most allowed in the majors — in 91 innings. He’s on a 32-game pace to allow 35 homers this year.

“I’ve had a string of pretty good outings, a good amount of quality starts and that’s kind of the goal,” Kremer said assessing his performance through the season’s midway point. “Had some hiccups along the way, but it’s a long season.”

Kremer walked Gallo and allowed a single to Carlos Correa to lead off the fourth to earn Hyde’s hook in favor of Baltimore-area native Bruce Zimmermann. The left-hander got bailed out by Camden Yards’ awkward left field wall, which robbed Kyle Farmer of a home run, but Zimmermann couldn’t get lucky twice, allowing a three-run homer five pitches later to Byron Buxton, who conquered the wall with a 397-foot blast.

On the other side, López and relievers Jovani Moran, Emilio Pagán and Jordan Balazovic stymied the Orioles, who went 4-for-31 at the plate. López pitched six innings of one-run ball while striking out six.

“Doing what he does,” Hyde said about what made López effective. “He’s a strike-thrower, he’s got really good stuff: fastball, curveball changeup. Keeps you off-balance, got really good command. We didn’t have much of an answer for him.”

After Zimmermann pitched a scoreless fifth, left-hander Nick Vespi made his season debut with three scoreless innings, allowing three hits and striking out three. Vespi was recalled Friday morning to replace Keegan Akin, who was placed on the injured list. Left-hander Cionel Pérez followed Vespi with a clean ninth for his fourth straight scoreless outing.

“The highlight tonight, for me, was Vespi,” Hyde said. “I thought he did a great job. Vespi and Cionel. And the way Rutschman swung the bat tonight. Those are the positives.”

Holliday hits walk-off

No. 1 prospect Jackson Holliday hit a walk-off home run for High-A Aberdeen on Friday night. With the game tied at 3 in the bottom of the ninth, the 19-year-old mashed a long ball to right-center field to deliver the IronBirds a 5-3 win over the Winston-Salem Dash. Holliday is hitting .321/.458/.533 this season between Low-A Delmarva and Aberdeen.

Twins at Orioles

Saturday, 4:05 p.m.

TV: MASN2

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

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