O's game blog: Dean Kremer faces the Yankees in Game 2 of series

With Monday’s 2-0 win over the New York Yankees, the Orioles improved to 18-10, achieved a first-place tie atop the division and improved to 7-3 in series-opening games.

Win the first one and the chances to win the series go up, said Captain Obvious. And the Orioles are 6-3 in series play in 2024.

With one win the next three days they would at least split this four-game series. Should they do that or better, they will extend an impressive streak. The Orioles have gone 15 straight AL East series without losing one. That is the longest streak in club history behind a 13-series non-losing streak from 1969. Since early last April, they have won 11 and split four other AL East series.

Gunnar Henderson’s leadoff homer in the last of the first Monday was his third leadoff homer of this year and fifth of his career. With 10 homers, he is tied with the Angels’ Mike Trout for both the AL and MLB lead. Two other players have hit nine homers and three have hit eight.

At his current homer pace, Henderson would hit 58 homers this year. Last night he became the third player in club history to have hit 10 or more before May 1. Brady Anderson hit 11 in 1996 and Frank Robinson hit 10 in 1969. At 22 years, 306 days, Gunnar becomes the youngest player in MLB history with 10 home runs before May 1 (previously: COL’s Trevor Story, 23-167 on 4/30).

The O’s have now homered in 17 of the last 18 games; the 45 homers through Baltimore’s first 28 games of the season are the most in O’s history>

The Orioles lead the majors in homers per game:

1.61 – Orioles
1.25 – Milwaukee
1.24 – Boston
1.23 – New York Yankees & Philadelphia
1.16 – Los Angeles Dodgers

In 2023 the Orioles ranked 17^th in the majors in homers per game at 1.13. The Orioles hit just one homer on Monday, but they are 12-2 this season when hitting two or more home runs.

The Yankees (19-11) had scored 15 runs on Saturday and Sunday but were shut out last night. They have been blanked five times already this year. Only the Chicago White Sox (8) have been blanked more times in 2024.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (1-2, 4.61 ERA) gets tonight’s start looking for his second win. The Orioles were 24-8 in his starts last season but are 2-3 so far this year.

Kremer allowed two runs on three hits Wednesday in Anaheim but fanned 10, throwing 101 pitches. He has thrown six innings or more just one time so far with one quality start.

In three starts last season, he went 1-0 with a 4.50 ERA against New York. In nine career games, he is 2-3 with a 5.04 ERA, a 1.410 WHIP and a .799 OPS against.

Lefty Nestor Cortes (1-2, 3.50 ERA), who has strong career numbers against Baltimore, makes his seventh start. He pitched seven innings against Tampa Bay and Oakland in his previous two starts. In that span, he gave up three runs and 11 hits over 14 innings with no walks and 13 strikeouts.

He has already thrown seven innings or more three times with three quality starts, yet the Yankees are 2-4 in his games.

In two 2023 starts versus the Orioles, he was 1-0 with a 4.76 ERA. But in nine career games (seven starts), he is 4-0 with a 1.99 ERA and with 12 walks to 61 strikeouts over 45 1/3 innings. O’s batters in his career have hit .185 against Cortes with a .519 OPS.

As a starter-only versus Baltimore, Cortes is 3-0 with a 1.73 ERA, allowing one or zero runs in five of the seven starts. In five career games (four starts) at Oriole Park, he is 3-0 with a 1.08 ERA.

The Orioles this year are 6-4 in games started by lefty pitchers, batting as a team .269 with a .798 OPS against southpaws. They are 12-6 in games started by opponent right-handers, batting .246/.749.

The Orioles ended the month of April tonight. They went 2-1 in March and are 16-9 this month. 

Cedric Mullins' next steal will be the 100th of his career. 

As a team, the Orioles have 24 stolen bases, tied for fifth in the AL. They have stolen successfully 24-of-26 and their percentage of 92.3 percent ranks second in the league and in the majors to Detroit at 93.3.