O's lose again at home to Red Sox, but Aberdeen still unbeaten

The fact that shortstop Ramón Urías made an error playing behind pitcher Pat Valaika in the ninth inning last night probably tells us something about how this game went for the Orioles. Valaika went on to put up a zero in his one inning and that was something.

But overall, not a good night for the Orioles, who got whipped 11-6 by Boston. And the visiting team is 8-0 this year when these clubs play. The bad news is the next two in this series will be at Oriole Park. Somehow the Orioles have to figure out how to play better at home where they are now 4-12.

I will say a few words in defense of left-hander Zac Lowther, who allowed seven runs in 2 1/3 innings. That was a tough first major league start. Maybe the Orioles were asking too much of a pitching prospect that had not yet pitched at the Triple-A level.

But Lowther has been too good on the farm for three seasons to get down on him for a rough first start. He didn't have his usual command and the Red Sox have one of the best offenses in the game right now.

Manager Brandon Hyde credited Boston's offensive approach against Lowther for their success, going up the middle and the other way. They knocked him out in third and were leading 7-2 after three innings.

"I made a lot of good pitches, maybe not when I needed to, but I'm going to take the good from this and kind of just dump the bad. You can always learn from this stuff. I know what I need to do to get better, so just being able to work on that between outings is something I'm going to take forward," Lowther said via Zoom after the game.

In Game 3 of this series today, right-hander Dean Kremer (0-2, 6.43 ERA) faces righty Nick Pivetta (4-0, 3.23 ERA). Kremer will try to duplicate his outing Monday at Seattle, when he allowed two hits and one run over six innings. It was his second career quality start and first since his major league debut Sept. 6, 2020 against the New York Yankees.

Aberdeen is still unbeaten: On the farm, the high Single-A Aberdeen IronBirds, in their first year of full-season baseball, will go for a series-opening six-game sweep today. They beat Wilmington 3-0 last night to go to 5-0. Right-hander Blaine Knight got that start and allowed three hits in four scoreless innings. He combined with Connor Gillispie, Luis Perez and Easton Lucas on a five-hit shutout.

In five games, Aberdeen starting pitchers have allowed 13 hits and one run over 23 innings.

For the year, the IronBirds pitching staff has an ERA of 1.20. Over 45 innings, Aberdeen pitchers have allowed 27 hits and just two homers with eight walks and 41 strikeouts. Aberdeen has a team WHIP of 0.78 and has allowed a .168 batting average against.

Triple-A Norfolk (2-3) has won back-to-back games. The Tides won 5-4 at Jacksonville in 10 innings. The O's No. 8 prospect, outfielder Yusniel Diaz, hit a two-run homer in the ninth to tie the game at 4-4. It was his first career Triple-A homer. Richie Martin's RBI single in the 10th gave Norfolk the lead and win. Starter Bruce Zimmermann allowed three hits and two runs over three innings.

Double-A Bowie (3-2) lost 8-4 at Altoona. Starter Cody Sedlock got just one out and allowed three hits and three runs over 1/3 of an inning. Adley Rutschman went 0-for-4 and is hitting .190

In Game 1 of a doubleheader, low Single-A Delmarva smoked Salem 11-1. Jordan Westburg's first pro homer was a grand slam. J.D. Mundy and J.C. Encarnacion hit two-run homers for the Shorebirds.

But Salem took the nightcap 6-1, holding the Shorebirds to three hits. Delmarva is 3-2 on the young season.

The four O's full season affiliates have a combined 13-7 (.650) record.

Celebrating Means: By the way, if you didn't get to see the pregame ceremony before last night's game to honor John Means for his no-hitter, it's here in this tweet.

John Means threw the Orioles' first complete-game no-hitter since Jim Palmer in 1969.

The O's celebrated Means' historic outing before Saturday's game. pic.twitter.com/JSBW91FyCn

-- Orioles on MASN (@masnOrioles) May 8, 2021