BALTIMORE—After returning from a successful six-game road trip and hearing that third baseman Jordan Westburg was added to the American League All-Star team, the Orioles played a sloppy game against the weak-hitting Chicago Cubs.
Starting pitcher Dean Kremer allowed seven runs, five earned, in four innings as the Orioles lost to the Cubs, 9-2, before 30,373 at Camden Yards on Tuesday night.
The Cubs (43-49) scored in the first four innings and put the game out of reach when Ian Happ hit a three-run home run onto Eutaw Street in the fourth inning.
Westburg’s addition was announced late Tuesday afternoon, and he marked the occasion with his 15th home run in the second inning.
Michael Busch, Kremer’s second batter, homered in the first inning, and after Tomás Nido’s sacrifice fly in the second, the Cubs took a 4-1 lead in an unsightly fourth inning that included errors by shortstop Gunnar Henderson and third baseman Ramón Urías and two walks by Kremer.
Happ’s home run gave Chicago a 7-2 lead.
Kremer (4-5) allowed seven hits and three walks, striking out three in his second start since missing six weeks with a strained right triceps muscle. In his first start, he held Seattle to two hits in five scoreless innings.
Jameson Taillon (6-4) gave up two runs on four hits, and retired the last 11 batters to face him, walking one and striking out seven. The Orioles (57-34) had just one baserunner, Heston Kjerstad, who singled with one out in the seventh in the last six innings.
Keegan Akin and Dillon Tate allowed runs in the eighth and ninth.