ARLINGTON, Texas — This week was about avenging bad memories at Globe Life Field.

Gunnar Henderson, Adley Rutschman, Jordan Westburg, Anthony Santander and Corbin Burnes did that in the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game on Monday and Tuesday.

Then the team, fresh from its break, beat the Rangers on Friday and Saturday, outscoring them 17-5.

And on Sunday, their final day in Texas, Dean Kremer pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing three runs. The Orioles did not win, dropping the series finale 3-2, but it was a drastic improvement for Kremer from the last time he was here.

Last October, the Orioles came to Arlington down 0-2 in the American League Division Series. Kremer was their Game 3 starter, the most important outing of his career. He didn’t make it out of the second inning. He gave up six earned runs in 1 2/3 innings as the Orioles were eliminated from the playoffs.

“It’s a new year,” Kremer said. “Yeah, it sucked the last time we were here, but it is what it is.”

Sunday wasn’t perfect. But it was much better than that, and his deepest start since coming back from a triceps strain this month. He sailed through the first three innings before command issues hit him in the fourth. He walked Wyatt Langford and Nathaniel Lowe, setting up Jonah Heim to hit a three-run homer as the Rangers took a 3-0 lead.

“Stuff has been pretty solid since I came back off the IL,” Kremer said. “I like where everything is at, the things that we have going. Just lost it a little bit command-wise, and the walks ended up hurting.”

Kremer is the Orioles’ No. 3 starter again this season, putting him in position to start another Game 3. A performance like the one today would have given the team a much better chance to win than his last one in this stadium.

It should have given the Orioles a boost Sunday too, but they, as they did earlier this season, struggled against Rangers starter Andrew Heaney. In their previous meeting June 30, Heaney allowed just two runs on five hits in seven innings. This time, he did even better. He held the Orioles to two hits in five innings, one each from Colton Cowser and Henderson, who was supposed to get a rest day but had to start after Ramón Urías was scratched with neck soreness.

“I thought we did the same thing off Heaney last time, not much,” manager Brandon Hyde said. “We drove a couple balls there early in the game. He has sort of this unique arm slot, really throws in well to righties. We just didn’t do a whole lot offensively. I can’t put my finger on it. We just didn’t swing the bat well.”

A boost finally came in the eighth, when Westburg singled and Santander hit a two-run home run, his third of the series. He has 27, just one behind Henderson.

Although that wouldn’t be enough to catch the Rangers, this series was still a success. They ended the first half on a 1-5 stretch, including dropping a series to the Yankees. They are starting the second 2-1 with a series win over the team and at the place that ended their 2023 hopes.

“June was a rough month for us,” Kremer said. “All of us were trying to catch our breath. We had one of the tougher schedules there travel-wise and whatnot. I think the All-Star break was a refreshing break for a lot of us to kind of get our feet back under us and continue.”