Dean Kremer has been a stabilizing force in the Orioles’ rotation for four years now. The right-hander isn’t an ace and he has a history of starting the season slow, but Kremer churns out more innings than anyone on staff and at his best shoves as well as anybody.
On Tuesday, making his final start of the 2025 season, he shoved.
Kremer allowed one hit in 6 1/3 scoreless innings to help the Orioles (74-83) beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-0, on a rain-soaked evening at Camden Yards. Despite the start of the game being delayed 70 minutes by inclement weather, Kremer retired the first nine batters he faced before center fielder Chandler Simpson chopped a single up the middle for the lone hit against him.
“It’s not going to happen until at least Sept. 29, because the season is not over yet, but yeah, there’s a lot to be learned,” Kremer said when asked how he reflects on his campaign. “There’s a lot to be happy about. There’s some things that were a little frustrating throughout the year but you grow every year and try and get better.”
Colton Cowser launched a two-run home run for his 16th long ball of the season, Gunnar Henderson collected a pair of RBIs and both Coby Mayo and Jordan Westburg enjoyed multi-hit games to pace the offense, which chased Tampa Bay starter Ryan Pepiot after three innings.
But it was Kremer, who finished the season with a 4.23 ERA in 30 games (29 starts), leading the way as he induced 11 whiffs and kept the ball off the Rays’ barrels. Interim manager Tony Mansolino sent him back out for the seventh at 85 pitches and he struck out second baseman Brandon Lowe before plunking third baseman Junior Caminero on his final pitch.
“He’s a guy who has good starts, a lot of them, eats innings, wins big games,” Mansolino said. “He’s pitching in the AL East, too. All these teams he’s facing in this division, they’ve seen him a ton here over the last five years. So, to see him go out against another AL East foe that’s a solid team, probably hasn’t been playing their best here lately, but to still navigate it the way he did speaks volumes of what Dean does.”
The announced crowd of 15,267 then gave Kremer a standing ovation as he walked off the mound, a ceremonious ending for a player whose contributions might be easy to take for granted. Reliever José Castillo stranded Caminero at second base three batters later before Colin Selby and Yaramil Hiraldo put up zeros to help the Orioles secure their seventh shutout of the season — third fewest in MLB ahead of only the San Francisco Giants (six) and Colorado Rockies (three).
Baltimore jumped out to an early lead in the first with a rally that started with Jackson Holliday’s leadoff walk. Holliday moved to third on a double by Westburg and they each scored as Henderson hit a flyball to the warning track for a sacrifice fly and Tyler O’Neill brought Westburg home on a groundout.
Henderson tacked on another run on an RBI single in the third and Westburg’s sacrifice fly two innings later gave the Orioles a four-run cushion. Cowser then broke the game open in the fifth, going left-on-left and driving the ball 426 feet to straightaway center field. His 16 homers tied Henderson for the second most on the team behind Holliday (17).
“I think that [it’s] one of those things when you look at how the trade deadline went, we got rid of a lot of guys and being able to jell together as a team is really important, especially this last month,” Cowser said. “Even against the Yankees, I don’t feel like we played all that poorly. But this month has been really good and we’re looking to finish strong and, hopefully, we win as many games as possible. We got five left.”
The Orioles did endure a small injury scare in the sixth when Samuel Basallo was hit in the elbow by a 90.4 mph sinker from Rays left-hander Ian Seymour but, after a visit from trainer Scott Barringer, took his base and remained in the game at designated hitter.
Adley Rutschman played his first game since Aug. 17 after being reinstated from the injured list Monday and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Postgame analysis
Before the game, Mansolino announced that Baltimore wouldn’t be reinstating catcher Gary Sánchez from the injured list over the season’s final week. That signaled a likely offseason exit for the veteran backstop, who joined the club on a one-year, $8.5 million deal over the offseason but played just 29 games because of injuries.
It was also a vote of confidence in fellow catcher Alex Jackson, who was out of options and would’ve been subject to waivers had the Orioles replaced him on the active roster. He’s hit .229 with five home runs and a .788 OPS while grading out well defensively in what has become an audition for the Orioles’ third catcher spot behind Adley Rutschman and Samuel Basallo.
Baltimore is expected to carry three catchers next season and the 29-year-old offers a solid glove-first option who won’t cost the club very much. He’s entering arbitration for the first time this offseason and will be under team control through the 2028 season. Rutschman, meanwhile, is due for a raise in his second year of arbitration after making $5.5 million in 2025 and Basallo will be owed $1.625 million in the first year of his new extension.
What they’re saying
Cowser on trying to cut down on the swing and miss in his game:
“Swings and misses are part of the game. You look at a lot of the really good players in this league and they swing and miss. For me, I think that it’s trying to cut down a little bit on that swing and miss early in counts, whether it’s getting offspeed pitches in-zone and getting those and hitting them where they’re pitched. So, just trying to cut down on that I think is the big thing for me and so I think by doing that it will allow me to get better pitches to hit, taking my walks, not pressing. I feel like I’ve been pressing this whole second half trying to get four hits in one at-bat rather than letting the pitcher come to me and taking the walks whenever I can.”
By the numbers
Since the start of the 2022 season, Kremer leads the Orioles with 598 innings pitched. Not only is that far and away the most of any Baltimore pitcher, it nearly matches the combined totals of the second and third pitchers on that list in Kyle Bradish (353 2/3) and Tyler Wells (255 1/3). Kremer’s mark ranks 30th across MLB and 15th among pitchers who’ve only pitched for only one team over that span.
On deck
Wells has been fantastic in his return from 2024 elbow surgery. The right-hander put up a 2.04 ERA over his first three starts and he’ll get one final outing against the Rays on Tuesday to close out his year. Between his rehabilitation assignment and time in the majors, Wells is on track to finish the season right around 50 innings pitched.
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