Dean Kremer strong again, but O's lose to Yankees

It was another impressive day for Orioles right-hander Dean Kremer. Taking the mound after his club got swept in a doubleheader on Friday, Kremer gave his team a very solid outing against New York.

Facing the Yankees for the second time in six days, he threw well against a team that had scored 16 runs last night and 23 runs during a three-game winning.

But the O's offense did not do its part. The Yankees beat the Orioles 2-1 in 10 innings on a sac fly by Luke Voit. The Orioles fall to 20-25 and are now 4 1/2 games behind the Yankees for the final American League playoff position with 15 to play.

Kremer was replaced by Dillon Tate to start the last of the sixth of a 1-1 tie. Kremer went five innings, allowing four hits and one run with three walks and seven strikeouts. He threw 99 pitches, 58 for strikes.

His pitch count did get high and his pitches were elevated in the first inning when the Yankees scored to take a 1-0 lead. He hung a 1-2 curveball to the first batter he faced and DJ LeMahieu doubled to left center to start the home first. When Voit lined out to right, LeMahieu took third base. He would later score on Clint Frazier's sac fly for a 1-0 lead.

But Kremer really settled in nicely after that 22-pitch first inning. He mixed in all of his pitches and threw some very nice cut fastballs and mixed in some curveballs. He allowed one runner in each of the next four innings, but no more runs. He pitched around a two-out triple by Frazier in the third and a one-out double by Gary Sánchez in the fourth.

Kremer threw 29 four-seam fastballs that averaged 92.9 mph, per Statcast, and topped out at 95.8 mph. He added 27 curves, 24 two-seam sinkers and 19 cutters. The Yankees swung at 38 of his pitches with 11 whiffs. He had a 31 percent rate of called strikes and whiffs combined, which is a good rate for that statistic.

In two outings versus the Yankees, Kremer has an ERA of 1.64. Over 11 innings, he allowed five hits and two runs with six walks and 14 strikeouts. The Yankees hit just .135 (5-for-37) against him.

The Orioles could not back with much on offense today. Lefty Jordan Montgomery, who entered with an ERA of 5.72, allowed three hits and one unearned run over 5 2/3 innings. He fanned a career-high nine and was pulled after just 72 pitches. He got 15 swings and misses today, well over his previous season high of 11.

Ryan Mountcastle's bloop RBI single to short center in the sixth tied the game 1-1 and gave him 10 RBIs in his last eight games. It scored Hanser Alberto, who had singled, moved to second on an error an advanced to third on a lineout.

The pitching, including a three-inning scoreless outing by César Valdez, gave the O's a great chance to get a big win today. But the offense was not up to it and the O's have scored two runs in three games in the series.