Kremer cruises, O’s bullpen backs him up in 2-0 win over Rays

It was an outstanding night for the Orioles pitching staff as four arms combined to shutout the Rays to open the weekend series.

The pitching staff led the Orioles from start to finish as they squeaked past the Rays for a 2-0 series-opening win on Friday night at Camden Yards.

This was an old-fashioned pitcher’s duel early on. Neither starter allowed a hit through the first three innings. Gunnar Henderson put an end to that with a lead-off single in the bottom of the fourth, but it would take until the fifth inning for the O’s to get on the scoreboard.

Colton Cowser led off the fifth with a walk. He technically advanced to second on a Cedric Mullins walk, but Cowser happened to be running on ball four. The Tampa catcher Ben Rortvedt threw to second base anyway, and the ball went into the outfield, allowing Cowser to scoot over to third. Jackson Holliday brought him home on a sacrifice fly.

The O’s doubled their lead in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Henderson’s 36th home run of the season, a solo shot. There’s still enough time for Henderson to get past the 40 mark on the year, a remarkable feat for anyone, let alone an elite shortstop.

And that would be it for the O’s lineup. It was not a particularly potent showing. They compiled just four hits and three walks, and they went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position. Shane Baz is a good pitcher, and he had his full arsenal on display. These things happen. It’s also easy to dismiss a bad night for the offense when your own pitching performance was superb.

Did we mention that Kremer was fantastic for the Orioles yet? Plus, the bullpen was able to back him up to keep the Rays completely silent on offense.

It was impressive to even see Kremer take the mound in this game. The righty was walloped in his pitching arm by a 103-mph line drive in Colorado less than a week ago. The swelling was significant, and it seemed an IL stint was on the table. Instead, Kremer bounced back, made his very next start, and delivered his finest outing of the entire season.

It was a stuff over control type of game for Kremer. He was a tad wild, issuing three walks and hitting a batter in his 6+ innings of work. But whenever he was near the strike zone, the Rays hitters didn’t stand a chance.

Kremer entered the evening with a below-average 21.2% whiff rate across all of his pitches this season. In this game, though, he would entice the Rays to swing and miss on 39% of their attempts, an elite showing. So it’s no wonder that he piled up seven strikeouts and took a no-hitter into the seventh inning.

In that seventh inning, thought, things got concerning. Kremer’s no-hitter came to an end on the very first pitch of the frame. Junior Caminero served a sinker into left field for a lead-off single. Dylan Carlson follow it up with a ground ball into right field. And then the bases were loaded when Josh Lowe hit a sharp grounder to first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, who was unable to handle it. Kremer was suddenly in danger of losing this gem of a game he had pitched.

That’s when Brandon Hyde called on Yennier Cano to bail Kremer out, and boy did he! Cano got the first two batters he faced to strike out, and then popped up Rortvedt to leave all three runners stranded. It was a huge appearance for Cano, and is likely an indication of what Hyde is thinking for his usage moving forward. He won’t be closing, but is likely to be the first name out of the ‘pen when danger is afoot. It’s hard to argue the logic right now.

Cionel Pérez was handed the ball for the eighth. He retired the first two batters he faced on a strikeout and a groundout, but his third batter reached on a fielding error by Henderson. With the right-handed Caminero coming to the plate, Seranthony Domínguez was summoned from the bullpen for an attempt at a four-out save.

Domínguez struck out Caminero and then did return for the ninth, where he got into some trouble that was not really his own doing. Josh Lowe reached base on a one-out single. Jonny DeLuca followed and seemed to hit into a 6-4-3 double play, but it wasn’t to be. Henderson charged the ball, collected, and then went to grab and fire to second base, but he couldn’t get a grip on the baseball. He tried to pivot and salvage the play by getting an out at first base instead. The throw was late. Everyone was safe, and now the tying run was on base.

Thankfully, there was no meltdown ahead. Domínguez struck out José Caballero (although the two baserunners advanced during the at-bat). And then he got Rortvedt to pop up to end the game. Talk about a tough individual performance. Rortvedt left five runners on base to end innings and made a killer error in the field. Let’s just say the Orioles talent forced him into those struggles.

The winning effort started with a stellar outing from Kremer and saw the relievers persevere through subpar glove-work behind them. For as much (often deserved) grief the team’s pitching staff has gotten this year, they also need to get their flowers when deserved. They were great in this game.

These two teams are back in action on Saturday afternoon. Zach Eflin (10-7, 3.60 ERA) will look to keep his good run of form going against his former squad. The Rays will put forward Ryan Pepiot (7-6, 3.76 ERA). First pitch is 4:05 from the Yard.