Kremer Yields 4 Runs In 1st And Orioles Lineup Remains Timid As Boston Wins 15th Straight

The first game of this doubleheader in Boston was a disaster. These Orioles cannot play with good baseball teams and the Red Sox (15 straight wins) have been the best in MLB by quite a margin for three weeks now.

So we’re not going to belabor the point too much on the gory details of this 6-3 loss at Fenway Park, with a nightcap still to come. Dean Kremer was terrible early, he couldn’t fool anyone, and when the O’s putrid road offense scratched out a run he gave it right back. Baltimore once again could muster almost nothing against a nondescript spot starter with little pedigree (Jake Bennett this time), and the fact he throws lefthanded made him even more problematic.

The Orioles (49-53; 25-37 vs winning teams) are leading MLB in strikeout percentage on the road – all season – for good reason. They are bottom five in runs scored away from home for good reason, and the recent roster attrition is only going to exacerbate that.

Boston, meantime, jumped Kremer for four runs in the first inning; it would have been worse than that if not for a great play by Pete Alonso at first base; it was that bad in part because Jackson Holliday is still not a legit MLB second baseman (he did have two hits off lefties including uber-closer Aroldis Chapman and if they won't play him regularly they should trade him). Albernaz had to stick with Kremer (eight hits over six innings) as long as he could with a beat-up bullpen already short and another game to play and starter Kyle Bradish on 11-days rest for that one.

The loss of Blaze Alexander is absolutely strangling a poor lineup and with catcher Adley Rutschman already on the Injured List, the team added catcher Samuel Basallo, their second most clutch everyday batter to Alonso, to the IL right before the game (outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez was recalled). He’s been dealing with lingering shoulder problems that at least go back to mid-May (around the time Albernaz soiled himself trying to shame the 21-year-old in his historic season).

“Best catching tandem in the big leagues, and it’s tough to replace,” said Albernaz, a former catcher himself.

This is devastating on multiple levels.

While Basallo is still a work in progress defensively, having barely caught 200 games in the minors, he is just the 25th player in the history of MLB (back to the 1800s), per stathead feature of baseballreference.com to even catch in 68 games before turning 22. And he is providing unprecedented power while doing it. So there’s that.

The O's were hopeful perhaps Basallo wouldn't need a longer recovery but, “the (pre-game batting) cage session didn’t really go as planned,” Albernaz said, adding the import of “doing what’s right and best for him.”

Good luck buying at the trade deadline with this roster! But then again this team was built to lose by a baseball czar who knows no other way.

Oh, and during the MASN broadcast, Opening Day starter Trevor Rogers was miced up and asked if the Orioles have ever made any attempts to extend him. “No,” was the direct response, while reiterating for the umpteenth time how open he is to getting paid here. Rogers is on another heater, is a rare top lefty who could be on the market at the deadline, and his deal is expiring. He needs to be dealt (like Rutschman), and this is further confirmation.

Back To The Game

Boston gifted the O’s a run with a two-out flyball lost in the sun to make it 4-1. Recently recalled third baseman Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit another blast (the former Reds and Twins prospect loves hitting at Fenway) to make it 5-2. Kremer promptly failed to deliver a shutdown inning again, this time in the 4th, with Ceddane Rafaela’s homer restoring a four-run lead.

“The pitches that were out over the plate they did damage on,” Albernaz said.

Coby Mayo, certified lefty masher, opened the sixth with a double and Encarnacion-Strand drove him in. The Red Sox went to the pen to end further damage that inning and they shut this pop-gun lineup down for the duration.

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