O's game blog: O's face Boston in Little League Classic

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Orioles officially have a home game tonight versus Boston although they have traveled north to Williamsport, Pa. to play in the Little League Classic.

After a 15-10 Orioles win on Friday night and 4-3 loss on Saturday, the teams play the third and deciding game of this series tonight at historic Bowman Field, home of the Williamsport Crosscutters of the MLB Draft League.

It's the fifth annual Little League Classic.

The O’s trailed 3-0 in the last of the seventh yesterday and scored twice to pull within 3-2 that inning on a Kyle Stowers' RBI groundout and a wild pitch that scored Jorge Mateo. Boston would take a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth before the O’s pulled back within a run on another Stowers grounder. But that was as close as they got.

The Orioles (62-58) have lost three straight one-run games and are 17-21 in one-run decisions for the season. Overall, Baltimore has lost three of four and five of the last eight games.

In longer stretches, the Orioles have won 11 of 18, 15 of 25, 27 of 41 and 38 of their past 61 games. They are 41-28 since June 1 and 55-44 since May 1.

The Birds are now 34-23 at home. They are 1-2 on this seven-game homestand and have won 15 of their past 21 games at home.

With an announced attendance of 34,939 yesterday, the Orioles have surpassed 1,000,000 fans this year with 23 remaining games at Oriole Park this season. 

Righty Kyle Bradish took the loss Saturday, allowing three runs over 5 2/3. This marked his third career start without issuing a walk, and he has thrown at least five innings in four of his last five starts. Orioles starters have limited opponents to three or fewer runs in seven of their last nine home starts, good for a 3.70 ERA (20 ER/48.2 IP).

The O’s Adley Rutschman (2-for-4) has safely reached base in 16 of his 17 August games, batting .317/.449/.567 (19-for-60) with six doubles, three home runs, 16 runs, eight RBIs, 16 walks and a stolen base this month.

Stowers, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter and stayed in the lineup, recorded his first career multi-RBI game and first career RBI at Oriole Park. Since his Friday recall he is 2-for-7 with a pair of singles, a run and two RBIs.

On the mound tonight for Baltimore is right-hander Dean Kremer (5-4, 3.58 ERA). From July 16 through Aug. 11, Kremer pitched to an ERA of 5.96 over a five-start stretch and allowed an .865 opponent OPS. But he turned that around last Tuesday at Toronto. He seemed to get stronger as the game got longer, allowing two runs and seven hits over seven innings with one walk and six strikeouts.

It was just the O’s seventh outing this year of seven innings or more, and first since July 12 when Jordan Lyles went seven at Wrigley Field against the Cubs.

Kremer’s stat sheet shows numerous improvements from his 2021 season, when he went 0-7 with a 7.55 ERA over 13 starts. His WHIP has been reduced from 1.640 last year to 1.294 this season, and his homer rate is way down from 2.9 per nine to 0.9. His walk rate decreased big time, too, going from 4.2 to 2.0.

The Orioles are 8-5 in his starts this year after going 3-10 last season. In six home starts this year he is 2-2 with a 3.41 ERA and 1.168 WHIP.

Boston right-hander Nick Pivetta (9-9, 4.28 ERA) is set to make his 25^th start. The Red Sox are 12-12 in his games. On the year he has thrown 136 2/3 innings, allowing 126 hits and 18 homers with 50 walks to 130 strikeouts. He has a 1.288 WHIP with a 3.3 walk rate and 8.6 strikeout rate.

Pivetta threw a gem on Tuesday at Pittsburgh with seven scoreless on one hit. He walked three and fanned six, throwing 99 pitches.

In two starts this season against Baltimore, he is 1-1 with a 3.48 ERA, allowing four earned runs over 10 1/3 with three walks, 10 strikeouts and a 1.355 WHIP.