Smith surrenders consecutive homers and offense snoozes in Orioles' 6-3 loss (updated)

A team has only so many dramatic comebacks in the bank. Expecting three in a row seems a bit unreasonable, a tall order that can’t always be scaled. Maybe spread them out a little.

Make a baseball life a little easier while fighting to get back into first place.

Dean Kremer ran into two-out trouble in the fourth inning tonight, surrendering three runs and receiving no offensive support except for a walk. No hits or rallies. Nothing unusual for this team.

Ramón Urías tied the game in the fifth inning with a three-run homer, the uprising a tad earlier than usual, but Alex Bregman and Yanier Diaz went back-to-back on consecutive Burch Smith pitches in the seventh in the Astros’ 6-3 victory over the Orioles before an announced crowd of 21,654 at Camden Yards that split the series.

The heroics ran out for the Orioles, who were held to a season-low two hits and are 76-56.

The Yankees won today and lead the division by 1 ½ games as the Orioles ready for a road trip that takes them to Los Angeles and Denver.

The bullpen had strung together 11 1/3 scoreless innings in the series before Bregman reached the first row of seats in left field and Diaz launched a sweeper 455 feet to left-center. Smith has allowed 10 runs in 8 2/3 innings over his last nine appearances. Included are five home runs.

"Last couple nights was really good out of the ‘pen, and tonight just wasn’t the best," said manager Brandon Hyde.

“Tonight (Smith) got beat with his breaking ball. He was throwing 98-99 and strikes. Just went two breaking balls to Bregman and the second one got hit out, and first-pitch sweeper I think. He’s got a really good arm, he throws 99 mph. I don’t know if they were sitting on it or what, but he pitched well against them a couple nights ago.”

Cionel Pérez gave up an unearned run in the eighth on a walk, infield single, Urías throwing error and sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Jake Meyers.

Kremer registered his third quality start in a row with three runs allowed over six innings. He allowed seven hits and came out of the game at 92 pitches, navigating the sixth following a leadoff walk.

“Anytime you can go out there and give your team a chance to win, went six and three, quality start, I’ll take it," he said.

Zach Eflin could be eligible to return from the injured list on Sept. 1. Grayson Rodriguez is more likely to resurface in the latter portion of next month. Trevor Rogers is in Triple-A, where his first start with Norfolk this afternoon resulted in 10 runs and nine hits allowed in 4 1/3 innings.

A fast return to the majors can’t be counted on right now.

Kremer doesn’t need to do much beyond replicating himself from the second half of last season, when his 3.25 ERA ranked fifth in the American League among qualifying pitchers.

Over these last three starts, Kremer has allowed five runs in 18 innings for a 2.50 ERA.

“I’m not thinking about last year," he said. "I’m thinking about the starts ahead of me. If I’m thinking about last year and what I did last year, then I’m probably not in the right head space. So it’s just about moving forward and kind of stacking one after another.

“I would like to think I learned from my mistakes and learned the guys in the box and learned how to navigate with what I’ve got.”

Kremer had four strikeouts through the third inning with his curveball, cutter, sinker and splitter. A one-out walk to Victor Caratini in the second was nullified by a strikeout/caught stealing, and Kremer fanned back-to-back hitters after Mauricio Dubón’s one-out single in the third.

Jeremy Peña singled with two outs in the fourth and scored all the way from first base on Caratini’s single into left-center field. Ben Gamel lifted a single into shallow left field at 61.5 mph off the bat and Zach Dezenzo followed with a two-run double to the left field wall at 109.1 mph.

Gunnar Henderson kept it from getting worse with a diving stop of Dubón’s ground ball to hold Dezenzo at third base.

"Just made a couple mistakes, one to Caratini and then one to Dezenzo," Kremer said. "Both put a good swing on not-so-good pitches. I’d love to have them back."

The Orioles were behind again, their comfort zone the past two games.

They didn’t have a hit against Yusei Kikuchi until Eloy Jiménez led off the fifth with a single. Kikuchi had retired 12 of 13. Emmanuel Rivera walked for the second time and Urías demolished a high fastball for his ninth home run and fourth this month, chucking the bat with enthusiasm over a 416-foot shot into the bullpen, where reliever Pérez made another catch with his cap.

"I feel good about myself, I feel happy with the performance that I’m having and helping the team," Urías said.

"A lot easier playing every day, knowing that you have the chance to take more at-bats the next day. You feel more comfortable. ... Honestly, this is probably the best that I’ve been feeling."

Kikuchi surrendered only two hits in 5 2/3 innings but left with the score 3-3. He hasn’t completed six innings in his last eight starts.

Dubón raced 130 feet into the left field corner to catch Urias’ fly ball with two outs in the seventh and ran full-speed into the wall. He was down for several minutes before finally sitting up and walking to the dugout with several teammates accompanying him. Fans for both teams stood to applaud him.

The Orioles have totaled three hits or fewer four times since last Sunday. They failed tonight in their attempt to claim their first home series against the Astros since May 25-27, 2015.

Hyde was operating with more restrictions.

Cedric Mullins took batting practice in the same group as Daniel Johnson, who’s on the 24-hour taxi squad. The Orioles are reevaluating Mullins’ sore quadriceps and whether he needs a stint on the injured list.

Ryan Mountcastle is receiving treatment on the sore wrist that forced him out of Thursday’s game. Coby Mayo wasn’t in Triple-A Norfolk’s lineup today, but it didn’t relate to the taxi squad. He lined out as a pinch-hitter and played first base.

Mullins and Mountcastle weren't available, reducing the bench again to two players. Making it harder for a sluggish offense to get perky.

"We're a little banged up right now," Hyde said. "You know, Mounty couldn't play. Mounty has had really good at-bats against
Kikuchi. Unfortunately he couldn't go tonight. Kikuchi was really good. We saw him in Toronto early. It’s a firm, firm 96, 97 with a
really good slider. Really tough on righties and lefties. We had a tough time putting things together against him. But a nice three-run
homer there by Urías to get us back in the game.

“The off day comes at a good time to try to give these guys an extra day of rest. I'm hoping that they're available for Tuesday.”

The club is waiting for a consistent run to unfold where it unloads on opposing pitchers. The Orioles are confident that it's coming.

“I would hope so once everybody kind of gets back and into their shoes and everybody feels comfortable in their skin," Kremer said. "Once that kind of happens, I think we’re going to be in a good spot.”

"I think we’ve been struggling to put good at-bats together as a team," Urías said. "I think we all know that we have the talent, so I think we just have to keep the focus and bring that back."

* Here are the pitching matchups for the Dodgers series in Los Angeles:

Tuesday: LHP Cole Irvin vs. RHP Jack Flaherty
Wednesday: RHP Corbin Burnes vs. RHP Walker Buehler
Thursday: LHP Cade Povich vs. RHP Bobby Miller

* As first reported by MASNsports.com, the Orioles are promoting catcher Samuel Basallo to Triple-A Norfolk after he batted .289/.355/.465/.820 with 22 doubles, 16 homers – including another one today - and 55 RBIs in 106 games with Double-A Bowie.

Basallo, who turned 20 earlier this month, is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 11 prospect in baseball.

Enrique Bradfield Jr. had four hits for the Baysox and his batting .318 with an .878 OPS. Catcher Silas Ardoin had two hits, including his fourth home run, and three RBIs.

First-round draft pick Vance Honeycutt led off today for Single-A Delmarva and had two hits. Ethan Anderson, chosen 61st overall, finished with two hits and two RBIs. Catcher Ryan Stafford, a fifth-rounder this year, went 3-for-3 with a double, RBI and walk.

High-A Aberdeen’s Douglas Hodo III hit his sixth homer, a two-run shot. He walked three times and scored three runs. Creed Willems doubled twice and singled.