The Orioles offense had a rare outburst, Dean Kremer looked solid in his return, and the bullpen held on for dear life in 8-7 win at Rate Field in Chicago on Wednesday night.
Kremer’s return to the mound was something to watch coming into this game. The righty was skipped the last time through the rotation due to forearm discomfort. But he tossed a bullpen over the weekend, stayed off the IL, and made the start here. Early on the results were rough, but then he settled into the game and looked like
the steady hurler he’s been throughout his career.
Both of the runs that Kremer allowed came in the opening frame. After a single for Chase Meidroth and a wild pitch that advanced him to second, Kremer served up a two-run bomb to Kyle Teel to give the White Sox a 2-0 lead before even recording an out. A pair of White Sox also smacked deep fly balls later in the inning, but the ballpark held them and allowed the O’s starter to escape without further damage.
Kremer got into a little trouble in the second inning as well. He gave up a lead-off single to Lenyn Sosa, and then uncorked another wild pitch to move him up a base. A pop out and walk put two runners on with one out, before a 4-6-3 double play got Kremer off the tight rope.
Chicago would not get terribly close to scoring again with Kremer on the bump. He exited the game with two outs and runners on first and second base in the sixth inning. Yaramil Hiraldo was the choice out of the bullpen. Although he too would throw a wild pitch to move up the runners, he would also strike out Sosa to end the inning and keep Kremer’s line in order.
That line for Kremer would be 5.2 innings, four hits, two runs, three walks, and four strikeouts. His velocity looked good, averaging 93.7 mph on the four-seamer. He was getting batters to whiff at a 33% rate, which was above his season average. And while he was maybe a little wild with the two wayward pitches and three walks, it wasn’t outrageous. For a guy that missed a start and probably was not at 100%, it was a successful outing.
The Orioles offense put together their best showing since August 30, when they scored 11 runs in San Francisco.
Their first run came in the third inning. Dylan Carlson led off with a double. Two batters later, he came on in to score on a Jeremiah Jackson two-bagger down the left field line. Gunnar Henderson was next up, and he tied the game at 2-2 with a bouncing single through the left side of the infield.
Samuel Basallo put the O’s ahead in the top of the fourth inning. Coby Mayo had reached on a one-out single before Basallo walloped a homer just inside the right field foul pole. It was the rookie’s third big league bomb.
The O’s scored again in the fifth inning. Jackson collected his second double of the game, which gave Henderson yet another RBI opportunity. He took it, lining a ball into centerfield, scoring Jackson and making it 5-2 Orioles. A little while later Dylan Beavers made it 6-2 with a triple into the right field corner.
Beavers nearly improved the Orioles advantage to 7-2 later in the inning. With Colton Cowser at the plate, the infield in, and one out, Beavers broke for home on a grounder to second base. But Meidroth made a perfect play, fielding cleanly and firing home to nab Beavers and keep it as a four-run game.
But they couldn’t keep Beavers down forever. He would drive in both the seventh and eighth Orioles runs with a two-run homer in the seventh inning, scoring Jordan Westburg, who had walked ahead of him. At 8-2 it felt like the Orioles were headed towards an easy win. That was before a disastrous eighth inning cast doubt on everything.
Chayce McDermott trotted in from the Orioles bullpen, making his first big league appearance since May 20. The organization has moved him to relief full time, and things have been going well for him in Norfolk. He could factor into a rebuilt bullpen next year, but this showing was not his best.
McDermott began the inning with a walk to Meidroth, then a wild pitch scooted him up a base. He followed that with a ground out and a strikeout to leave the runner where he is. McDermott was nearly out of the inning. He even struck out the very next batter, but the offering bounced away from Basallo for another wild pitch (are we sensing a theme!?), allowing the batter to reach base and a run to score.
The wheels fell off McDemott from there. He gave up a single, balked, gave up another single, and was yanked from the game with the score 8-5. Rico Garcia was next out of the ‘pen, and the very first pitch out of his hand was a two-run homer to make it 8-7. It felt like this bullpen was about to cough up a six-run lead.
But eventually they figured it out. Garcia got the final out of the eighth inning. Keegan Akin came on for the ninth, and although he did allow a one-out single (that Jackson Holliday should have caught), was largely in control. The southpaw struck out the final two batters of the inning and closed up the Orioles 8-7 win.
The bullpen was bad tonight, and the five wild pitches overall need to be addressed. Ben McDonald on the MASN broadcast had some thoughts about how Basallo sets up based on in-game situtations. It’s not all on Basallo. Some of the offerings were impossible to wrangle. Regardless, it needs to get cleaned up.
In the positive column: Kremer looked good and uninjured. You have to like that! And the offense was lively. They had eight runs on 13 hits and four walks. Mayo had three hits, as did Henderson. Jackson and Carlson had two each. Beavers filled up the stat sheet with three RBI, a triple, and a home run. It was good stuff!
At this point in the season, you might as well dwell on the good stuff. It shows what this team could have been, and maybe what they will be in 2026. Fingers crossed.
The Orioles go for the sweep on Wednesday. Tyler Wells (1-0, 2.31 ERA) is set to face lefty Martín Pérez (1-5, 3.27 ERA. First pitch is 2:10 p.m. ET from the South Side.
