A Four Homerun Outburst Was Not Enough
The Baltimore Orioles returned to Camden Yards on Friday to begin a seven games over six days homestand. Earlier in the day, the team learned that southpaw reliever Gregory Soto had been traded to the New York Mets for their #19 ranked prospect Wellington Aracena (RHP) and Cameron Foster (RHP). Norfolk Tides’ infielder Jeremiah Jackson was called up to Baltimore in the corresponding roster move.
As to the game, the Orioles lost 6-5 to the worst team in MLB, the Colorado Rockies (27-76). Baltimore established a four run lead after two innings and then gave up a combined five runs to Colorado over the next three innings and trailed 5-4. The Orioles tied the game in the seventh and then immediately coughed up that lead in the eighth. The Orioles went down quietly in the ninth but the final out was a hold your breath moment as Jackson Holliday‘s fly ball went deep into the left field corner but landed in the glove of Colorado’s Jordan Beck.
A Four Homerun Start
The baseballs were certainly flying out of Camden Yards on the 92 degree night. The Orioles saw Jordan Westburg and Tyler O’Neill homer in the first inning.
Coby Mayo and Alex Jackson did the same in the second inning.
Not to be left out, Colorado saw Mickey Moniak hit a solo homerun in the third inning, Thairo Estrada hit a two-run homerun in the fourth and Ezequiel Tovar hit the eventual game winner in the eighth off of losing pitcher Andrew Kittredge (1-2).
Kremer Struggled
Dean Kremer did give the Orioles a 6.0 inning start but it was not a start that we have witnessed lately from the righty. Kremer gave up 5 runs on 6 hits, 2 of which were homeruns, while walking 2 and striking out 5, needing 92 pitches (68 K’s) to navigate the Colorado lineup.
Regarding Kremer’s effort, Interim Manager Tony Mansolino said, “he was in the zone, which I think probably played to their favor a little bit. A couple of the balls that they hit, I think the two-run homer was kind of at the very bottom of the zone, but teams like that, you tend to maybe work the edges a little bit more and get some a little bit weaker contact in some spots. But Dean’s been so good here for so long for us…probably just too much zone tonight.”
One Bullpen Mistake
Grant Wolfram and Corbin Martin held the Rockies scoreless in the seventh and ninth innings repectively. Kittredge, who struck out three swinging in the eighth, made just the one mistake to Tovar on a 94.2 mph sinker that went 409 feet to left field.
Deja Vu
The game did have the look of a game during the Covid pandemic despite an attendance of 25,090. The lower seating bowl as well as the upper level were cleared for a couple of innings due to lightning in the area even though play continued. The sea of green seats was reminiscent of games played during the pandemic.
Baltimore was able to muster just five hits off of Rockies’ starter Kyle Freeland and a trio of relievers after their fourth homerun and scored their fifth run on a Holliday RBI single that followed a Jackson double with one out. Collectively the Orioles were 1 for 6 with runners in scoring position. Holliday (3), O’Neill (2) and Jackson (2) had multi-hit at bats. Holliday was picked off of first base in the fifth inning by Freeland.
Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes?
It remains to be seen if the fact that the Orioles remain 9.0 games back in the Wild Card race and the organization’s seemingly seller status at the trade deadline will alter the makeup of future lineups. Mansolino did have this to say, “we’re still gonna try to go out there and win games with whoever’s in the building. What it’ll probably do is create more opportunities for guys who maybe haven’t gotten them in the past. I don’t think you’ve seen that here the last couple years. Because the Orioles have won so many games in ’23 and ’24, you’ve seen some prospects get blocked in a sense, right, because it’s hard to play over guys who are playing good and playing on winning teams. And maybe some of those guys have been shipped off in trades. And I think now you kind of enter a different scenario where some of those prospects possibility get an opportunity to come play in the big leagues, which is a very normal cycle for every team.”
MASN’s Roch Kubatko did report that Jeremiah Jackson appeared to be packing his belongings after the game. So much for his time in the bigs.
The calls from the fan base to see Baltimore’s #1 prospect and MLB Pipeline’s #9 prospect Samuel Basallo in Camden Yards will now only grow louder. As luck would have it, Basallo blasted a pair of homeruns in Norfolk’s 7-6 loss at Lehigh Valley.
2025 Record: 45-58
Next Game: Sat. 7/26 @ 7:05 pm vs. Colorado Rockies