O's game blog: Dean Kremer faces San Diego in Game 2

Two days ago the Orioles had a 6-0 lead and almost lost. Last night they held an early two-run lead, were tied in the ninth and lost 6-4 to the Padres in the opener of a three-game series.

The Orioles (61-42) still lead the American League East by two games over the Yankees as both clubs keep losing often lately.

The Orioles have lost four of five, nine of 13 and 11 of their past 17 games. Since June 21 they are 12-17 with a -41 run differential.

The Yankees have lost five of six games and are 2-5 since the All-Star break (the O’s are 3-4). Since June 21, New York is 9-19 with a -16 run differential.

San Diego (56-50) has a six-game winning streak after Friday’s 6-4 victory and they have outscored their opponents 34-8 in those games.

San Diego has its longest streak since their eight-game winning streak from Sept. 13-22, 2023. In their last 6 games, San Diego batters have hit a National League-best .300 while scoring 5.67 runs per game. In those games, Padres' pitchers have a major league-best 1.17 ERA (7 ER, 54.0 IP) and major league-best .131 opponent batting average. The Padres are six games over .500 for the second time this season and they have not been seven games over .500 this year.

Right-hander Dean Kremer (4-6, 4.43 ERA) is on the mound today for the Orioles in the second game of this series. He is making his 14^th start and the Orioles are 6-7 in the first 13.

Over his past five starts, Kremer has a 5.87 ERA, allowing a .261 opponent batting average and .807 OPS. He has recorded just three quality starts for the year and those are the only three times this season he has pitched six innings or longer.

While opponents have an OPS of just .442 the first time through the order versus Kremer, that goes up to .800 the second time around and to 1.021 the third time.

In six starts this season versus National League clubs, Kremer is 1-4 with a 5.58 ERA.

Right-hander Michael King (8-6, 3.28 ERA) starts for San Diego, making his 21st start. The former New York Yankee has allowed one earned run in four consecutive starts, going 3-1 with a 1.48 ERA in that time. He's allowed two earned runs or less in 14 of his starts.

In 13 career games (one start) versus the Orioles, he is 2-1 with a 2.63 ERA and .540 OPS against. 

On June 20, the Orioles and Yankees were both playing .662 ball.

Here are the AL East standings since June 21:

.556 - Boston (15-12)

.552 - Tampa Bay (16-13)

.414 - Baltimore and Toronto (12-17)

.321 - New York (9-19)

With Friday's result, the Orioles are 20-14 in series openers this season and drop to 13-17 against the NL, including losing six of the last seven games against NL opponents. They fall to 52-25 when homering and 41-9 when hitting at least two home runs.

Anthony Santander launched a 442-foot home run, his 29th of the year, surpassing Gunnar Henderson (28) for the team lead. That marks his longest homer since a career-long 455-foot blast on June 12, 2022 at Kansas City and he has now surpassed last year's home run total in 55 fewer games. Santander hit a career-high 33 homers in 2022.

He has now hit six homers his last eight games and has 20 in 47 games since June 1.

MLB homer leaders since June 1:

20 - Anthony Santander, BAL
17 - Shohei Ohtani, LAD
16 - Aaron Judge, NYY
14 - Brent Rooker, OAK