Will they ever win again?
The Orioles lost their seventh consecutive game today and 31st on the year. Their record now stands at 15-31, which is on pace for a season-long record of 52-110. Goodness. Dean Kremer was underwhelming once again as he allowed four runs in 5.1 innings. He has not given up at least four earned runs in six of his 10 starts. Not great.
The offense had its moments tonight, but ultimately fell short. And by “offense,” I mean Ramón Laureano, who had three hits including his sixth home run, and Cedric Mullins, who hit a game-tying home run late in the game.
Let’s start with Kremer. He had a nice first inning, which made me think we might see Good Dean today. But that went up in smoke in the second, when he allowed three of his four runs. After Laureano put the Orioles ahead in the top of the inning with a solo homer, Kremer responded by promptly walking the first batter of the bottom. Swell, Dean.
With Rhys Hoskins on first via the walk, Isaac Collins singled. Kremer got close to getting out of it with back-to-back strikeouts, but true to Orioles’ form, he allowed the number nine hitter to get an RBI single. Caleb Durbin and his 45 OPS+ singled to left field. Dylan Carlson fired the ball home to try and nab Hoskins, but the throw wasn’t in time and allowed Durbin to get into scoring position. He and Collins came in on another single, putting the Orioles into a 3-1 hole.
Kremer settled in for a few innings. He had traffic in every inning, but got out of it in the third and fourth innings. In the fifth, back-to-back doubles brought in the fourth run, which at the time felt like a nail in the coffin for the Orioles and their underachieving offense. But surprise, they came back!
Seranthony Domínguez relieved Kremer with one out in the sixth inning and a runner on third. He made the jam worse by sandwiching two walks around a strikeout, but retired Jackson Chourio with the bases loaded to end the inning.
Brewers’ starter Quinn Priester had kept the Orioles down for most of the game. He started the second inning after the opener, Rob Zastryzny, had a 1-2-3 first. In innings two through six, Priester sailed. Laureano homered and singled, and Jackson Holliday had a single of his own. That was it.
Priester started the seventh by retiring Laureano for the first time, but walked Ryan O’Hearn. Ramón Urías followed with a double to left field. O’Hearn stopped at third as Urías slid in ahead of the tag at second. That marked the end of the day for Priester.
The Brewers turned to relief pitcher Nick Mears, who is off to a great start this season. In 19 games, Mears has given up just one earned run. The righty was tasked with getting Cedric Mullins out. He did not. Mullins smoked a Mears fastball to right field at 107.9 mph. It got over the fence so fast that the broadcasters could barely make the call in time.
The Earl Weaver Special tied the game and was the most excitement we’ve seen in an Orioles game in some time. The happiness lasted about an inning and a half. The O’s made some noise in the eighth with a one-out Gunnar Henderson walk and Laureano single, but the filthy Abner Uribe struck out O’Hearn and Urías to squash the rally.
After Gregory Soto pitched a scoreless seventh, Yennier Cano took over in the eighth. Cano has been pretty bad of late. He had a nice April, but May has been miserable. Opponents came into tonight with a .364 May batting average against him. In just 5.1 innings pitched in May, he has walked four, given up three home runs, and allowed eight runs. His troubles continued tonight.
Cano got the first two outs but walked leadoff batter Bryce Turang. Turang immediately stole second and came in to score on William Contreras’s fourth hit of the game. It was a ground ball single just out of reach of a diving Henderson.
Armed with a lead, the Brewers turned to their closer, Trevor Megill. Megill walked Mullins to start things off, just to tease us. Dylan Carlson was, for some reason, bunting. Bunting is usually dumb and it was especially dumb tonight because Carlson couldn’t even do it. He popped the ball up for the first out. Adley Rutschman pinch hit for Maverick Handley. With Rutschman at the plate, Mullins got himself into scoring position by stealing second. But both Rutschman and Jackson Holliday flew out to left field and the game was over.
Brewers win, 5-4. The Orioles have lost seven games in a row and the nicest thing I can say about this game is that I wasn’t miserable the entire time. Thanks, Cedric.