Cubs outslug Orioles, club 4 solo homers off Dean Kremer

Solo homers aren’t supposed to kill you.

They’re quick and sharp, like a nick from a razor. But they don’t cut deep.

Get enough cuts, however, and you’ll eventually lose blood. Give up enough solo homers, and you’ll lose your team’s lead.

Dean Kremer allowed four of them Wednesday night in the Orioles’ homer-filled 9-7 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Camden Yards. The first came to All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong, who deposited a splitter into the flag court in right field in the third inning.

No biggie: Crow-Armstrong is a National League Most Valuable Player hopeful, and Kremer followed a first-inning solo shot with five scoreless frames his last time out.

The second and third homers were harder to stomach. Pete Alonso had just given the Orioles their first lead of the game with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth.

Kremer couldn’t protect that lead. He gave up solo home runs on the first two pitches of the fifth inning. Michael Conforto launched a four-seam fastball over the right-field fence, and Carson Kelly sent a cutter down the line in left. Tie game.

“That’s one of those ones where you let go and you just know,” Kremer said of the Kelly homer. “That’s like 10 times out of 10 that’s probably a homer.”

The last one was hard to fathom. Two batters after Kelly’s long ball, Kremer threw another splitter to Crow-Armstrong, locating it in almost the same spot as the one two innings before.

Same pitch, same result. Pete, repeat.

“I mean, PCA beat me on the second one, for sure,” Kremer said. “It was a good pitch; he hit it pretty well.”

“Pete just put a good swing on it,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “He’s one of the best in the league for a reason, and he does a great job of getting scoopy and really getting underneath those balls, and that’s what he did. It was a good pitch. That’s what Dean goes to. And sometimes you’ve got to tip your cap.”

It was the first time in Kremer’s seven-year career he allowed four homers in a start. The righty has surrendered nine home runs in his first four starts of the season.

“I mean, I’m not going to take anything back,” Kremer said. “I felt like I executed very well. I executed the game plan very well, and balls just got hit up in the air and they carried.”

Despite clubbing four homers of their own, the Orioles (42-51) couldn’t overcome a rough night from Kremer and the bullpen. Baltimore, eager to build momentum after winning its weekend series in Cincinnati, has lost three straight.

The dingers came early and often. Alonso’s two-run blast was his 20th of the season. Tyler O’Neill, coming off the bench for the second night in a row, delivered solo shots in back-to-back innings. Coby Mayo, also pinch-hitting, added another.

“They were ready off the bench,” Albernaz said. “That’s what I love about the guys that, they’re not in the lineup, they know their name could be called and they’re ready for it. And our guys did a good job of fighting back.”

It wasn’t just the homers, either. The Orioles collected 14 hits, their highest total since they registered 15 in a June 21 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Jackson Holliday, who entered the night hitting .183, went 4-for-4 with three singles and a double.

But Baltimore was swimming upstream from the moment Kremer surrendered the lead. A one-run lead ballooned when Chicago plated five runs in the seventh off Rico Garcia and Grant Wolfram. It was 9-3 before “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” played.

“[Wolfram] did a good … not saying a good job, but he got out of the inning,” Albernaz said. “It was one of those things where he was throwing the ball well for us. This was one of those outings where walks killed him.”

With just four games remaining before the All-Star break, Baltimore’s first half could be defined as death by a thousand cuts.

This article has been updated.