Orioles pitching dominates in 1-0 loss

Orioles manager Brandon Hyde wanted his pitchers to start pounding the strike zone and reduce the walks. He wanted the defense to tighten, a horrid performance Sunday afternoon in Bradenton testing his patience.

Rested after an off-day, the Orioles traveled to Fort Myers this afternoon and blanked the Twins on one hit heading into the seventh and final inning. Miguel Sanó delivered an RBI double off Conner Greene and the Orioles lost 1-0 at Hammond Stadium.

Three scoreless innings from Dean Kremer and three from Bruce Zimmermann. Zero errors committed in the field.

Take the loss and celebrate the advancements.

Kremer allowed one hit, walked one and struck out three. Zimmermann walked one and struck out two.

"I thought that both guys pounded the strike zone, which is what we've been talking about," Hyde said in his Zoom call. "They both had really good fastballs today, both up to 95-96 mph, averaging around 94, really good life to it."

Zimmermann, the Loyola Blakefield graduate and Ellicott City resident, has tossed five scoreless innings this spring with one hit, one walk and six strikeouts. If he doesn't make the rotation, he's going to tempt the Orioles to carry him as a bulk reliever.

"Zim picked up where he left off his last outing, with some good off-speed pitches," Hyde said. "I thought Dean was super-competitive. Flashed some good breaking balls, some good sliders and the cutter for some strikeouts. So both those guys faced a tough lineup and pounded the strike zone, which is what we wanted right now."

Kremer's fastball was clocked at 97.5 mph in his final inning.

"I think the life was the same as last time. I just, mentally was probably the difference-maker," he said.

"I feel like I was definitely more locked in today and being really intentful with every pitch. As opposed to last time, when I dug myself in a hole and didn't get out. My plan today was just to attack the zone with everything, and I was most on the attack when I was using my heater."

The pitchers received the necessary support. Routine and difficult plays were made. The Twins weren't gifted extra outs.

Ryan Mountcastle made a terrific grab at the fence in left field and raced in, against a tormenting wind, to glove another ball.

"I thought we played really well defensively. Kind of tough conditions. Wind was blowing hard from right to left," Hyde said.

"Mountcastle made two or three really nice catches with the tough wind, balls that were deep to center that pushed back into left-center field that he stayed with and got to, and then the one to left field that he caught at the fence that (Mitch) Garver hit. ... We were solid today, defensively."

Cedric Mullins had a hustle double in the sixth on a ball that scooted past shortstop. Trey Mancini struck out twice against Twins starter Kenta Maeda, but singled in his last at-bat.

Austin Hays accounted for the other Orioles hit.

Maeda, the Cy Young Award runner-up last summer, allowed one hit in three innings and struck out four.

This is how you truly evaluate your hitters.

"Today's a little more realistic," Hyde said. "Not just Maeda, but (Alex) Colomé after that, and then (Taylor) Rogers and (Tyler) Duffey, three guys that are going to be big pieces of their bullpen. So a top-level starter and three big bullpen arms, it was more of a realistic game. And all four of those guys were on, too.

"I've seen Maeda a lot. He can throw any pitch exactly where he wants to, and Colomé, I think, gave up a run or two all last year. So we faced some really good stuff today, tough pitches to hit, and we battled."

The Orioles put runners on second and third base against Duffey with one out in the sixth and didn't score. Mountcastle struck out and Pedro Severino grounded out.

"That was kind of our one opportunity today," Hyde said.

Severino threw out a runner trying to steal second base earlier in the game.