Orioles allow 11 runs again in latest loss to Brewers (plus notes)

It’s nothing personal.

DL Hall was a popular teammate inside the Orioles clubhouse. His friends hated to see him traded, though the return softened the blow. But he came back to Baltimore wearing a different uniform and with the intent to beat them.

Ryan Mountcastle and Jordan Westburg hit home runs in the first inning. The pleasantries were over.

Gunnar Henderson delivered an RBI single in the second at 112.8 mph off the bat and Adley Rutschman homered in the third to break a tie. Hall was taking a beating. But the Brewers can dole out their own punishment, and they went hard after Dean Kremer and the bullpen.

Nothing personal.

Kremer lasted only four innings, allowing eight runs and 10 hits, and the Orioles moved closer to a rare sweep with an 11-5 loss before an announced crowd of 24,327 at Camden Yards.

Hall had a shorter stint, going 3 1/3 innings and surrendering three home runs. He was charged with five runs and eight hits, and his ERA swelled to 7.11. But the Orioles fell to 8-6 and have been outscored 22-6 in two games.

The good news: Corbin Burnes starts Sunday.

The Orioles have gone 95 consecutive regular season series without being swept. They’ve got an ace up their sleeve.

“Every day’s a new day,” Rutschman said. “I believe in our team. We’re all about the process, and tomorrow we’re going to show up ready to go.”

Jake Bauers hit a three-run homer in the fourth, leaving Kremer bent at the waist as the ball reached the right field seats. The Brewers scored four times after trailing 5-4.

“He wasn’t as sharp as he was the last few starts and that's going to happen,” said manager Brandon Hyde. "I thought he did give up some soft contact for some hits. A little bit unlucky. And then, just trying to get through that fourth inning, leaves a pitch right down the middle to Bauers there. After playing an extra-inning game and the short start last night, we were hoping he could get us a little deeper, but didn't."

Kremer threw 10 pitches in the first but 29 in the second because he surrendered Rhys Hoskins’ home run and loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before striking out Oliver Dunn. The Brewers filled the bases again in the third, this time with no outs after Jorge Mateo’s fielding error and two soft singles into right. William Contreras scored on Bauers’ grounder, Hoskins singled to score Sal Frelick, and Willy Adames raced home with the tying run when Austin Hays misplayed the ball in left.

The next two batters flied out but Kremer was at 60 pitches. He reached 85 by the fourth, which included Dunn’s one-out double and Contreras’ RBI single that tied the game again. Adames singled with two outs and Bauers homered for the first time this season.

“I didn’t command the left side as well as I have been the last two outings,” Kremer said. “Everything was kind of leaking arm side. They put some good swings on it.

“How I started was basically how I finished and tried to grind through it best I could. Tried to change it up through the third and the fourth, and same result.”

Rutschman also hadn’t homered in 2024, but he launched a fastball 414 feet to center field for a 5-4 lead in the third.

Adames had flied to the left field wall leading off the top of the second inning, a 385-footer that’s a home run in 29 other ballparks. He reached the top step of the Brewers’ dugout and shrugged. Kremer exhaled.

Hoskins deposited a fastball into the left-center field seats with two outs. The Brewers were determined to score that inning.

Mountcastle beat the wall in the first by driving a changeup 413 feet at 111 mph. Hall hit Anthony Santander on the foot and Jordan Westburg jumped on a fastball for a 3-0 lead.

Henderson made it 4-1 in the second, Rutschman made it 5-4 in the third, and Hall barely made it out of the inning. The bases were loaded with one out but Colton Cowser popped up and James McCann grounded into a force.

Austin Hays had a bloop single in the inning, and 71.2 mph never felt so good at the plate. It snapped an 0-for-26 slump and produced Hays’ third hit in 34 at-bats.

"Sometimes, the soft single, where the ball gets on top of you and you can muscle it to the outfield, sometimes that bloop hit can get you going. Hopefully, it did," Hyde said.

Yohan Ramírez made his Orioles debut and stranded a runner for Keegan Akin in the sixth. Akin tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings to raise his total to eight.

Ramírez left two runners on base for Mike Baumann in the eighth and they both scored. Baumann also was charged with a run, as the Brewers stretched their lead to 11-5. They were 6-for-10 today with runners in scoring position.

"He picked us up. I wasn't expecting two-plus out of him," Hyde said of Ramírez.

"We've also got to start leaving some guys stranded on base, too, out of the bullpen. We've got to do a better job doing that. But he was wonderful for us."

* Jackson Holliday wasn’t in today’s lineup against Hall. He’s 0-for-11 with seven strikeouts since making his major league debut Wednesday in Boston.

“I just want to give him a little bit of a breather,” Hyde explained. “For me, it’s been a long three days for him and he’s played like 18 out of 19 days or something, where he’s played a lot of games. That’s a lot to handle for a 20-year-old kid with all the attention. I just want him to breathe for a day.”

Hopefully, the media won’t surround his locker later and ask how it felt to breathe in the majors.

* Kyle Bradish threw in the Camden Yards bullpen today following his live batting practice session last week in Aberdeen.

Bradish’s first injury rehab game is coming in the middle of next week, according to Hyde. The affiliate isn’t confirmed, but Bradish is expected to pitch at Double-A Bowie.

The steps remain positive in Bradish’s return from a sprained ulnar collateral ligament, which required a platelet-rich plasma injection in January. The club remains hopeful that he’s in the rotation during the first half – and closer to the early side.

* John Means remains on track for a late-April or early-May return, executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias told the media today.

“We’re trucking along. He’s going to pitch again in Norfolk in the middle of next week,” Elias said.

“I don’t want to paint myself in with a date or anything like that, but suffice to say that we’re looking at a springtime activation with him, hopefully. … I don’t think it will be too deep into May if it does go into May.”

* Burnes didn’t show much emotion over facing his former team on Sunday, calling it “business as usual.”

“Going out, prepare for my start,” he said after returning to his locker from an early throwing session. “I had a good five days leading up, so excited to get out there and execute my game plan and execute pitches and hopefully get a win.”

Burnes said it didn’t feel strange rooting against the Brewers in Friday’s series opener.

“It’s friends that I played with in the past and they’re former teammates and it’s the word ‘former’ for a reason,” he said. “I’m here to win baseball games for the Baltimore Orioles and win a World Series for the Baltimore Orioles. I’m as frustrated as everyone else in here that we got our butt kicked yesterday, so we’re ready to come out and kick their butt today.

“Obviously, that’s where I got my start. Got a second chance after ‘19, learned how to pitch, became the pitcher I am today. Thankful for the time that I was there. It gave me a lot of good baseball in that organization, made the postseason five years. A lot of good things that came out of my time there. But that’s the past. We’re living in the now and where our feet now. Go out and win a baseball game and hopefully the series.”

Does Burnes have an advantage over the Brewers because he knows the hitters?

“I would say I have an advantage over every lineup,” he replied.