Kremer refuses to leave after liner off leg, O'Hearn hits two-run homer in 3-0 win

Dean Kremer’s right thigh absorbed a 103.2 mph line drive from Mark Canha tonight in the second inning. Kremer raced to first base for the 1-3-1 putout, completed a few warmup tosses to appease manager Brandon Hyde and athletic trainer Scott Barringer, and went back to work.

That was the only way for the Royals to slow Kremer, and just temporarily.

Kremer tossed seven scoreless innings and Ryan O’Hearn hit a two-run homer to break up Michael Wacha’s shutout bid in the Orioles’ 3-0 victory before an announced crowd of 26,364 at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are 13-18 and have won back-to-back games for the second time. Tonight marked their first shutout. Ramón Urías was scratched from the lineup with hamstring tightness, but they didn’t let another health crisis distract from their mission.

It is time to turn around their season.

O’Hearn tied Cedric Mullins for the team lead with his sixth homer, a 391-foot shot into the bullpen in the bottom of the seventh inning after Adley Rutschman’s leadoff double.  

"He can flat-out hit," Hyde said. "He’s hitting oppo homers and he’s taking great at-bats for us.”

Kremer’s dominance of the Royals, with no runs and only three hits allowed, chopped his ERA from 7.04 to 5.73. It was like September all over again, except better. He tossed six scoreless innings with two hits on Sept. 6 against the Rays and allowed one earned run in seven innings against the Red Sox in his next start.

“I think, one, they were really aggressive on him, so he got a lot of early-in-the-count outs,” Hyde said. “I thought he commanded the ball well. He only had a couple punchouts but a lot of three-pitch-or-less outs, made quality pitches. Got smoked on the leg on that line drive and stayed in the game. Had to battle through some soreness for the last few innings. It started to tighten up on him there kind of the middle of the game, but he went back out, did a great job.”

Hyde pulled Kremer, pitching on a sore leg, after 82 pitches and with the Orioles ahead 3-0. Yennier Cano struck out Bobby Witt Jr. to strand a runner in the eighth, and Félix Bautista breezed through the ninth for his sixth save.

“I told Dean I was proud of him,” O’Hearn said. “That's the manliest thing I've ever seen him do. And he finished the play, got the out and, yeah, so he was awesome tonight.”

“It’s a mindset where they’re going to have to pry the ball out of my hand to take me out, no matter what the situation is,” Kremer said.

“It’s a part of the job. Just because you get hit with a comeback doesn’t mean you need to come out of the game. I felt good enough to kind of keep going. I got lucky. It didn’t hit me in a bad spot. And just kind of pushed through from there.”

Witt’s hitting streak was snapped at 22 games. Kremer struck him out with a splitter in the first inning. Michael Massey doubled with one out in the second, Canha was retired on the comebacker and Drew Waters grounded to first baseman Ryan Mountcastle, who flipped to Kremer at the bag.

Kremer retired 10 of 11, with a walk and wild pitch with two outs in the fourth causing no damage. Freddy Fermin singled with two outs in the fifth and Kyle Isbel popped up to leave Kremer cruising at 64 pitches.

The Royals lasted only six pitches in the sixth inning. At that point, Kremer had disposed of 18 of 21 batters.

Kremer has a career 6.24 ERA in March/April and opponents hit .291 with an .861 OPS.

“April’s over for Dean and it’s May,” Hyde said, “and historically, I don’t know the numbers actually, just going from my recall the last few years, he gets better as the season goes on.”

“I wish I would do it Opening Day, you know?” Kremer said. “But it doesn’t seem to have unfolded that way. But hopefully, from here on out, we can put together a consistent start.”

Massey singled with one out in the seventh and Seranthony Domínguez began to warm, but Canha flied out and Gunnar Henderson ranged up the middle to make a sliding stop of Drew Waters’ 101.8 mph ground ball and record the out.

“It’s pretty clear that our rotation had a tough time the first five weeks,” Hyde said. “When we get some starts like that, it’s easier on the bullpen, it gives guys confidence. It gives us a little momentum. You see how we play when we get a good start. We play really good baseball. We played good defense tonight, and Dean was fantastic tonight.”

Kremer removed his cap to salute Henderson.

Hyde removed Kremer.

“I was pulling him regardless, but he came in and it was really stiffening up in the top of the seventh,” Hyde said. “So going down the tunnel, I could just tell he kind of left it out there that seventh inning. We had that long offensive inning anyway, so probably would have been over.”

Wacha was just as stubborn as Kremer. He surrendered four hits going into the seventh and threw only 62 pitches. Rutschman doubled down the right field line, O’Hearn drove a fastball to left-center for the lead and Mountcastle doubled off the left field wall. Teammates sprayed water along the dugout railing.

Reliever Steven Cruz inherited two runners from Wacha, Heston Kjerstad singled to load the bases and Mountcastle scored on Emmanuel Rivera’s single. Cedric Mullins lined into a 3-unassisted double play.

Rutschman hit into a double play in the first after Henderson singled. O’Hearn and Jackson Holliday singled in the second, but Ramón Laureano grounded into a double play. Mountcastle led off the fifth with a single and Wacha retired the next three batters, striking out Laureano and Kjerstad.

The O’Hearn homer was the first hit with runners in scoring position. The Orioles were 3-for-7 after the Mullins double play.

The game was completed in 2 hours and 3 minutes, the fastest at Camden Yards since the no-fans game on April 29, 2015 that lasted the same amount of time.

“I looked up and it was the seventh. I was like, ‘Holy cow,’” O’Hearn said. “But no, great night. I thought Dean was outstanding and he took a comebacker off the leg, stayed in the game, gave us, I think three or four after that, more really good innings. Defense was great and then our bullpen came in, shut it down. We had one big inning on offense and yeah, it was a great win.”

Bautista has three saves in the last four games. He got two ground balls tonight and a strikeout.

“There was never a doubt, even on Opening Day, whether Félix was going to be ready or not,” Kremer said. “He’s unbelievable out there. He’s one of the toughest at-bats across the leagues, no matter whether he’s not feeling good or feeling great. His presence is different than most, if not all, and he’s a tough at-bat regardless. In terms of thinking whether he can close the door or not in the ninth, I don’t think there was ever a doubt in anyone’s mind.”

“I couldn’t be happier,” Hyde said. “I feel like the command is just getting better. The stuff’s ticking up a little bit, the fastball velo is ticking up, the split has been really good, the command of all his pitches is improving every time out, it feels like.

“He was a huge part of why we won 100 games two years ago. Best reliever in the game two years ago, and then we didn’t have him last year. That’s not easy.”

* Asked about Urías, Hyde said, “He’s got a little bit sore hamstring, so we’re not sure yet. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow. But he was a late scratch tonight.”

* Triple-A Norfolk’s Brandon Young allowed two runs and four hits in six innings against Charlotte. TT Bowens had a three-run double.