“Leading off for the Dodgers, pitcher Shohei Ohtani.”
The announcement in the top of the first inning served as a reminder that this wouldn’t be a typical Friday night for the Orioles. And it became more jarring about an hour later.
The Dodgers arrived in town and their two-way star was a late addition to the series rotation, with Tyler Glasnow scratched due to back tightness. The Orioles saw him twice with the Angels. They were supposed to contend only with his bat this weekend.
They didn’t know that they’d also contend with their own starter’s health crisis, but this is 2025. Had to happen.
Dean Kremer tossed three scoreless and hitless innings but was removed after 56 pitches with discomfort in his right forearm, a bad moment in a game that ended in spectacular fashion on rookie Samuel Basallo's walk-off home run off Tanner Scott in the Orioles’ 2-1 victory before an announced crowd of 25,481 at Camden Yards.
Basallo barreled a 98.7 mph fastball from the former Orioles reliever for his second major league homer and first in Baltimore. The ball traveled 433 feet to center field for the club's second walk-off win. The didn't have a walk-off homer since Anthony Santander on Sept. 19, 2024.
Dietrich Enns replace Kremer, who retired his first eight batters and finished with one walk and four strikeouts. Kremer seemed on his way to rebounding from back-to-back starts with a combined 13 earned runs and 16 hits allowed over eight innings. It wasn’t until Enns began to warm that an injury was suspected.
MASN cameras showed Kremer grimacing on a pitch to Mookie Betts, who grounded into a force to end the third. He was done, and the six-man rotation could be going through more changes.
Kremer was charged with seven runs and nine hits in three innings in San Francisco and he didn’t get any further tonight, but the forearm was to blame. Not the Dodgers.
The Orioles have placed 28 different players on the injured list this season and used it 36 times. Kremer managed to avoid it up to this point, making his 28th appearance tonight.
Betts flied to the left field fence in the first inning and Freddie Freeman flied to the right field fence. Kremer stood with hands on hips, taking in the scene and pondering his luck before beginning his walk back to the dugout. Rookie catcher Samuel Basallo waited for him near the first base line and they tapped gloves.
The Dodgers didn’t get a hit until Freeman led off the fourth with an infield single off Enns, who loaded the bases with two walks but struck out Dalton Rushing.
Miguel Rojas reached on Jackson Holliday’s fielding error with two outs in the third and Ohtani walked before Betts’ fielder’s choice grounder. That was the extent of any damage against Kremer, who lowered his ERA to 4.43.
Ohtani hasn’t gone more than five innings in 12 starts. He came out tonight after 3 2/3 scoreless with three hits, a walk and five strikeouts. He fanned the last two batters he faced in the fourth after Ryan Mountcastle’s leadoff double and a wild pitch.
The Orioles went ahead 1-0 in the fifth after Jackson Holliday and Gunnar Henderson walked and executed a double steal. Holliday kept going when Ben Casparius’ pitch bounced past Rushing and rolled to the backstop.
Holliday is the only Oriole with 20-plus doubles, 15-plus home runs and 15-plus stolen bases at age 21 or younger, per MLB.com.
The lead lasted one pitch. Freeman led off the sixth with a 420-foot shot to center field, and Kade Strowd replaced Enns.
Rushing fouled a ball off his right knee in the sixth, after back-to-back two-out singles created a jam for Strowd, and was carried off the field with a lower leg contusion.
Betts doubled off Grant Wolfram with two outs in the seventh and was stranded. Coby Mayo led off the bottom half of the inning with a 105.5 mph single into left field, and reliever Blake Treinen picked off pinch-runner Jorge Mateo. Rico Garcia retired the side in order in the eighth and Yennier Cano did the same in the ninth for his fifth scoreless appearance in a row.
* Former Orioles executive Danny Haas is returning to the organization as a special assistant to the general manager and will begin working in his new role next week, according to an industry source.
Among the duties for Haas will be evaluating players across all markets - the amateur draft, international free agency, the minor leagues and the major leagues. He will assist in evaluating players within the organization and advise executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias and front office executives on all manner of baseball operations decisions and topics.
The Diamondbacks hired Haas from the Orioles as special assignment scout from 2019-23 before he joined the Nationals as vice president of amateur scouting. Haas worked for the Orioles from 2012-18, including his roles as a national crosschecker and then as special assistant to the executive vice president of baseball operations from 2015 to his departure.
The Red Sox named Haas their Scout of the Year in 2004.
Haas selected prep shortstop Eli Willits No. 1 overall for the Nationals in the 2025 draft prior to his departure.
The Washington Post first reported that Haas was leaving the Nationals.