TAMPA – A fast start tonight by the Orioles would have to set a pace that didn’t let the Rays pass them. It was a dangerous little game that was destined to cause a crash.
Three of the first four batters reached and the Orioles scored twice before the bats were tamed again, with no runs over the next seven innings.
None were surrendered by Dean Kremer through the sixth and only one through the seventh for another quality start, but it proved to be no match for the Orioles’ failures in the clutch.
Seranthony Domínguez was charged with three runs, two earned, in the bottom of the eighth and the Rays rallied past the Orioles 4-3 before an announced sellout crowd of 10,046 at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
The losing streak grows to four games and the Orioles are 11 under again at 43-54.
Domínguez entered in the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Ha-Seong Kim, who stole second base and moved to third on a fly ball. Chandler Simpson lined a game-tying single into right field, stole second base and moved to third on a wild pitch as José Caballero walked. Yandy Díaz also walked to load the bases.
Gregory Soto was summoned to face left-handed hitting Jonathan Aranda, who grounded to O’Hearn. The matchup move seemed to work, but O’Hearn’s throw to the plate got past catcher Jacob Stallings, allowing Simpson and Caballero to score.
Tyler O'Neill doubled off Pete Fairbanks in the ninth and scored with two outs on pinch-hitter Cedric Mullins' bloop single. Mullins stole second base, but the Orioles finished 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position after Jackson Holliday flied to the center field fence.
Kremer has posted a 2.00 ERA in his last six starts, and he completed seven innings for the sixth time this season. He’s made three starts against Tampa Bay this season and registered a 0.95 ERA in 19 innings, and he owns a 1.83 ERA in 10 career starts against them.
The Orioles were outscored 28-2 in the past three games, including back-to-back 11-1 losses. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Gunnar Henderson’s sacrifice fly and Ryan O’Hearn’s RBI double, which forced Zack Littell to throw 27 pitches.
The early uprising was overdue. The Orioles were outscored 65-33 in the first inning before tonight, their output the third lowest in the majors. But Holliday had a leadoff single, went to third base on Jordan Westburg’s double and came home on Henderson’s fly ball. O’Hearn fell behind two strikes and pulled a splitter into right field for a 2-0 lead.
Perhaps Littell was due for a rough patch against the Orioles, who totaled four runs in 13 innings this season in the right-hander’s two previous starts. Littell had a career 2.74 ERA in nine appearances against them.
Littell followed with a pair of 11-pitch scoreless innings, getting a double play grounder from Henderson after Holliday singled again in the third. He retired the side in order on 14 pitches in the fourth and threw only six in the fifth, stranding Ramón Urías after Simpson overran Ramón Urías liner for a gift double.
Singles by Westburg and Ramón Laureano put Littell in a sixth-inning jam, but he escaped it and was done after 89 pitches. He retired 16 of the last 20 batters.
Urías doubled off Edwin Ucela with one out in the seventh and was stranded. Westburg reached on an infield hit in the eighth, Henderson grounded into a force and stole second and third base, and the Orioles still couldn’t tack on a run.
Kremer caught a break in the third when O’Hearn caught Matt Thaiss’ line drive as Kim broke for second base, which resulted in an unassisted double play.
Traffic didn’t twist Kremer’s start. A leadoff walk in the second, leadoff single in the third, one-out single in the fourth and leadoff walk in the fifth amounted to nothing. Jacob Stallings threw out Josh Lowe trying to steal to end the fifth with Kremer at 68 pitches.
Kremer retired the side in order in the sixth but issued a leadoff walk to Díaz in the seventh led to his only run. Jonathan Aranda struck out on a curveball, but Junior Caminero doubled down the left field line and Díaz scored on Josh Lowe’s groundout.
Kremer’s ERA for the season is down to 4.06. Daytime, nighttime, it doesn’t really matter.
What mattered was everything that came after he left.
* Left-hander Cade Povich made a rehab start with Triple-A Norfolk and allowed one run and three hits, with one walk and six strikeouts in 3 1/3 innings. He threw 62 pitches, 40 for strikes.
Jeremiah Jackson hit a game-tying, three-run homer in the eighth.
Double-A Chesapeake’s Trey Gibson struck out nine batters in 4 1/3 innings. He allowed one run and three hits.
Outfielder Vance Honeycutt, last year’s first-round draft pick, struck out five times tonight and is batting .170 with a .560 OPS.