A night after the Orioles hit five home runs, equaling their season high, they were held to just one hit by Seattle Mariners pitching.
Despite the lack of offense, they were in a scoreless tie against the Mariners until the eighth inning when Jesse Winker’s two-run double against Félix Bautista powered Seattle to a 2-0 win over the Orioles at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday night.
Ryan Mountcastle had the Orioles’ only hit, a fourth-inning single against Seattle starter Robbie Ray.
Oriole stater Dean Kremer pitched a career-high seven scoreless innings. Cionel Pérez (4-1) relieved Kremer to begin the eighth and struck out Kevin Padlo and Abraham Toro before J.P. Crawford singled to left.
Julio Rodriguez reached on an infield single against Bautista when Mountcastle wasn’t able to make the tag with Crawford advancing to third.
Winker hit an 0-2 pitch to right field where Austin Hays, who had made another fine catch against Dylan Moore in the seventh, was unable to catch Winker’s drive. Crawford and Rodriguez scored to give Seattle (35-41) a 2-0 lead.
Diego Castillo (5-1) pitched a scoreless eighth, and Paul Seawald completed the one-hitter for his seventh save.
It was the first time the Orioles (35-41) had been one-hit since May 18th, 2019 at Cleveland.
Kremer allowed four hits, walking two and striking out five. It was Kremer’s third straight scoreless start covering 18 2/3 innings. Kremer’s three scoreless starts of five innings or more is a first in Orioles’ history.
In the sixth, the Orioles saved Kremer with spectacular defense. Third baseman Tyler Nevin robbed Crawford of a hit and, after a ground-rule double by Rodriguez’, Winker lined to Nevin, and centerfielder Cedric Mullins made a diving catch of a liner by Eugenio Suarez to end the inning.
Ray struck out eight and walked three.
Notes: Austin Voth (0-0, 7.81) and Chris Flexen (3-8, 4.31) are the scheduled starters on Wednesday at 4:10 p.m.
Minor league update: Gunnar Henderson hit for the cycle in Triple-A Norfolk’s 8-2 win over Gwinnett. Henderson is the first Tide to hit for the cycle in 22 years. He hit his fifth home run and is batting .328 with a 1.077 OPS.
Kyle Stowers drove in three runs with a double and two-run home run, his 14th. Bruce Zimmermann (1-0) allowed one run on two hits in six innings, striking out seven and walking three.
In his first game for Double-A Bowie, Colton Cowser went 3-for-3 with a two-run home run as the Baysox beat Richmond, 9-3. Second baseman Connor Norby (1-for-4) and designated hitter Coby Mayo (0-for-5) who were promoted from High-A Aberdeen on Monday, also played in their first games for Bowie.
Catcher Maverick Handley drove in three and hit his fifth home run. First baseman Andrew Daschbach drove in three and hit his 10th homer.
Matt Harvey allowed three runs on five hits in five innings. Harvey (1-0), who remains on major league suspension until July 8th, struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter.
Justin Armbruester pitched four scoreless innings, allowing three hits to record the save.
Bowie released infielder AJ Graffanino, who came to the Orioles from Atlanta in the August 2020 trade for left-hander Tommy Milone. Tim Cullen, another infielder who came to the Orioles in that trade, moved up from Bowie to Norfolk.
Centerfielder John Rhodes had a two-run triple and second baseman Darell Hernaiz had three hits as Aberdeen beat Winston-Salem, 7-2. The IronBirds are 46-24.
Single-A Delmarva (22-47) had just four hits in its 8-0 loss to Fredericksburg. Heston Kjerstad had two of the Shorebirds’ four hits and extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Kjerstad is batting .429.