Remember when this was supposed to be a hard-fought series between the two hottest teams in baseball? It sure looks like a one-sided letdown to me.
The O’s again failed to quash Boston’s historic winning streak, which tied a franchise-best 14 games in a 6-3 Red Sox victory. Dean Kremer bombed immediately, coughing up four runs in the first, and the Sox cruised into the record books from there.
In the opener of this series on Monday, the Orioles, even in defeat, gave the Red Sox a heck of a scare. Whenever the Sox took a lead, the O’s would deliver a counterpunch, going toe-to-toe with the league’s hottest team right down to the final out. Defensive shenanigans aside, the Orioles at least made the Red Sox sweat.
But this game? Not so much. The Red Sox were in total control from the very beginning, and despite the O’s actually out-hitting them, the Birds never really felt like they had a chance.
The Red Sox took command immediately, torching Dean Kremer for four runs and five hits in the bottom of the first. The first two knocks weren’t especially well hit — a bloop into center, a slow roller to second — but Boston hitters stung the ball more as the inning went on. Willson Contreras lashed a single to left to load the bases, and a Caleb Durbin hit up the middle plated two runs.
Had Kremer been able to limit the damage at 2-0, things might’ve felt less bleak. He could not. With two outs, Jarren Duran lashed a triple into the right-field corner, bringing home another pair to make it 4-0. Because of course the guy with a .594 OPS delivered the big hit. Whatever devil magic has gotten into the Red Sox apparently isn’t going away anytime soon.
We’ve seen games this year where the Orioles fell behind early but rallied for a late comeback. This was not one of those games. Red Sox starter Jake Bennett, buoyed by his ample run support, never allowed the Birds to get particularly close. The rookie southpaw, who carried a 2.35 ERA into this game, put some traffic on the bases but mostly kept the O’s off the board.
Through the first five innings, the only runs Bennett allowed were on a gift RBI double in the third — when center fielder Ceddanne Rafaela lost a routine Tyler O’Neill fly ball in the sun, allowing Pete Alonso to score — and a solo homer by Christian Encarnacion-Strand in the fifth. In any case, the Red Sox quickly got both runs back against Kremer, first on a Duran sac fly in the third and then a Rafaela homer in the fourth.
Kremer ended up working six innings and giving up six runs. I wrote in the game thread, “If Kremer hopes to cool down the red-hot Red Sox, he’ll need to work a little further into the game than he has recently.” Perhaps I should have specified that he needs to both work further into the game and actually pitch well. My bad. But I will give him credit for saving the bullpen. The O’s needed only one reliever, Anthony Nunez, to finish the game, which leaves all of their high-leverage guys available for the nightcap of the doubleheader. Of course, that will only matter if the O’s actually have a late-inning lead to protect.
As for this game, Bennett began to tire in the sixth, giving up doubles to Coby Mayo and the scorching hot Encarnacion-Strand to make it a 6-3 game, and he departed after 5.2 innings. Normally I’d say that chasing the starter in the sixth inning is a moral victory, but the Red Sox have the best bullpen in baseball, so it wasn’t even that.
Sure enough, Boston’s lockdown relief arms shut out the Orioles the rest of the way. Justin Slaten worked 1.1 scoreless innings, Garrett Whitlock cruised through a perfect eighth, and closer Aroldis Chapman worked around a walk and a single to nail down the save in the ninth. As shortstop Tseng-Che Cheng threw out Pete Alonso for the final out, the Fenway Park crowd of 35,039 erupted, celebrating the franchise record-tying 15th consecutive win. I look forward to the Red Sox still finding a way to ruin their own season eventually.
The Sox will aim to break their record in the nightcap, scheduled for 7:10 pm. It sure would be nice if the Orioles found a way not to be on the wrong side of history.
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