TAMPA, Fla. — As Rays shortstop Ha-Seong Kim lightly jogged to home plate on Saturday night to tie the game at 2 in the eighth inning, every head in the Orioles’ dugout looked down.
The game was not over. There was still another inning, another chance for them to win, but their facial expressions showed it all. This game, for an offense that hadn’t scored since the first inning and had scored only four runs in the last four games, was slipping away.
After Kim breezed in, Seranthony Domínguez loaded the bases and passed the mess off to Gregory Soto to attempt to clean up. He didn’t. Jonathan Aranda hit a grounder to Ryan O’Hearn, who threw the ball home to attempt to get Chandler Simpson out to keep the score tied. But the throw went wide and Simpson and José Caballero scored.
The Rays took a 4-2 lead, holding on as the Orioles’ tried to rally in the ninth to win 4-3. At 43-54, there is still a chance the Orioles can get back to .500 before the July 31 trade deadline, but they will need to be perfect over the next 12 games.
If Dean Kremer can pitch the way he did Saturday the rest of the season, he could play a part in that.
In his last start before the break, Kremer pitched seven shutout innings against the Marlins. He came close to replicating that performance against the Rays, a team that he has performed well against this season. In his first six innings, he held the Rays to just one baserunner per inning.
In the seventh, Kremer allowed a leadoff walk to Yandy Díaz, who advanced to third on a Junior Caminero double. Díaz then scored on a Josh Lowe groundout. That was the only run Kremer gave up, the righty getting the trust of his manager to finish the seventh. He did, getting Jake Mangum to fly out to end his day.
The Orioles had given Kremer an early lead, Jackson Holliday opening the game with a single and Jordan Westburg following with a double. Gunnar Henderson then sent Holliday home with a sacrifice fly, and O’Hearn singled in Westburg.
That would be the only offense they would produce as they went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
They had one final chance in the ninth, after Tyler O’Neill hit a double with one out. Cedric Mullins hit an RBI single to shallow left to get the Orioles back within one.
With the Orioles down to their final out, Holliday had a chance. He hit the ball to deep center, and for a moment it looked as if it may have had enough juice to go over the wall. But it went just 401 feet and Simpson caught it to end the game.
Another winnable game, once again, goes the other way for the Orioles.
This article will be updated.