Tigers thrash Dean Kremer in Orioles’ worst shutout loss since 2004

DETROIT — Dean Kremer didn’t have it. He missed the zone by feet, then he missed with a middle-middle fastball. He found himself immediately in trouble and never got out of the mire. He allowed a career-high eight runs in a game the Orioles really could’ve used.

The Orioles lost to the Tigers by the hefty score of 14-0, and they never really had a chance because of Kremer’s futility on the mound. Now, in Wednesday’s series finale, Baltimore must face left-hander Tarik Skubal, that dominant ace, in what could be his last start for Detroit.

This loss, the worst shutout defeat the Orioles have suffered since 2004, ended with catcher Chadwick Tromp on the mound. Baltimore allowed runs in all eight innings in which Detroit hit — making them the first team to score in every inning against the Orioles since the team’s inaugural season in Baltimore in 1954.

The heavy defeat left Monday’s 8-5 victory in the dust, and it sets up a rubber match that has large implications.

“They just straight up beat us. That’s really it,” first baseman Pete Alonso said. “There’s no, ‘Hey, what if we did this, what if we’d done that?’ They straight up beat us. That’s simple as that. They out-executed us and outperformed us.”

Baltimore (52-56), like much of the American League, is evaluating the MLB landscape in the final days leading up to the trade deadline. Each win feels momentous. Each loss feels catastrophic. The nature of a baseball season is longevity; no one regular season game buries a team, nor does it lead them to glory.

But at this time of year, as front offices decide whether to buy, sell, do a mix of both or do nothing, a swing one way or the next is enough to change the course of a franchise. If the Orioles are buyers, perhaps a starting pitcher will be high on their list of needs — them and every other buyer, of course.

Kremer has now allowed 14 runs in his last two outings, becoming the first Orioles pitcher to allow that many runs in a span of two outings since Spenser Watkins in 2021. Before those starts, Kremer’s ERA was 4.15. It’s now 6.50.

“Definitely didn’t throw enough competitive pitches in the zone, and that’s on me,” he said. “Didn’t set the table for the offense or the guys who came in after. So, 100% on me.”

It all went wrong early. In the first inning, a single and walk brought Colt Keith to the plate with two outs. Kremer reached a two-strike count but then delivered a 94-mph fastball right down the middle. Keith lashed the ball for a two-run triple that just eluded the diving Colton Cowser in right-center field.

Kremer ran into trouble with another elevated fastball that caught way too much of the zone in the second. Catcher Eduardo Valencia, who stepped in for his 13th at-bat of the season, blasted the sinker for a homer.

Then it unraveled. Kremer allowed four hits, from Valencia’s homer to Gleyber Torres’ two-run double, in the span of eight pitches. The double that Torres hit came on a middle-middle sinker.

Valencia drove in another run in the third (this time against a cutter left up), and Kremer issued a leadoff walk to Kevin McGonigle and a two-run homer to Torres in the fourth.

“That’s a part of my identity, is the heaters up,” Kremer said. “It’s something I’m probably going to have to work on, making sure the ball is down in the zone and pitching off of the bottom. The league adjusts, and so, you have to make an adjustment.”

Eight runs, four innings. It was a disastrous showing from Kremer, and it buried the offense thoroughly.

Granted, right-hander Troy Melton produced a gem, allowing three hits in seven shutout innings. One hit was from catcher Yohel Pozo, who made his Orioles debut Tuesday. The other two were from Jackson Holliday, whose July has been strong.

Beyond that, Melton dominated.

“With Melton, it’s high-octane stuff,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said. “We faced him at our place, we know what he has, and he was attacking the strike zone. He did a good job of blending the two fastball shapes and also the cutter and the slider off that. He was on tonight. He was tough tonight.”

Holliday is hitting 18-for-51 (.353) this month with 15 walks and 10 strikeouts. Part of his success is because he’s putting the ball in play more. Holliday lowered his whiff rate from 34.8% in May to 26.5% in July, entering Tuesday. His average launch angle is much lower, from 20 degrees in May to 6 degrees in July.

That is cause for optimism. Holliday is a 22-year-old who has not had the easiest transition to the majors in his young career. But if he can blossom, it would be a boost to a lineup that hasn’t maximized its potential.

There was little to be done Tuesday. Right-hander Albert Suárez allowed two runs in 1 1/3 innings, left-hander Josh Walker conceded another two runs, and Tromp, the catcher pushed into pitching duties given the blowout, allowed a two-run homer to Valencia.

This one was over, practically, from the start.

In a matter of hours, the Orioles and Tigers will return to Comerica Park again. It will be Skubal against left-hander Trevor Rogers — or, as Alonso put it, “our big lefty against their big lefty.”

“We’re playing meaningful baseball right now and they’re playing meaningful baseball too and it should be a great ballgame,” Alonso said. “Two great arms and two great teams going at it.”

Only, on Tuesday, just one of those teams showed up.