Orioles minor league recap 8/18: Kremer hit hard in Triple-A debut

Syracuse Mets 7, Norfolk Tides 1 — Game 1

Poor Dean Kremer. The Orioles’ No. 8 prospect was called up from Bowie to make his Triple-A debut Friday night, only for the game to be rained out. Then yesterday he had to wait out another rain delay before he was finally able to take the mound for the first time with the Tides. And once he did...well, it did not go well. Kremer was ripped for six runs and eight hits, getting chased with one out in the fifth inning. Among those eight hits were three doubles. On the plus side, Kremer had six strikeouts and just one walk.

The Norfolk offense had basically nothing going on in the opener of the twin bill. An Austin Hays home run, his eighth, accounted for the Tides’ only run and one of just three hits. Another hit belonged to recently promoted Rylan Bannon. No. 4 prospect Ryan Mountcastle was 0-for-3.

Syracuse 4, Norfolk 2 — Game 2

Syracuse completed the doubleheader sweep of the Tides in a makeup of a Friday’s rainout. The Mets scored all of their runs in the bottom of the first off Josh Lucas — all four on RBI doubles, including three consecutive — and held on to that lead for the rest of the game. The last time Lucas made a spot start, he threw two shutout innings. This wasn’t didn’t go nearly as well.

The Tides’ bullpen, though, was stellar. Branden Kline and recently acquired hurlers Ryan Eades and Hunter Cervenka combined for six shutout innings. The most impressive of the bunch was Cervenka, who struck out five of the six batters he faced in two perfect innings. In four outings with Norfolk, the veteran lefty has thrown five scoreless innings, striking out eight.

Mountcastle completed a hitless doubleheader with an 0-for-3 in the nightcap, though he drew a walk and scored a run. Hays was 1-for-2 with a run scored; Bannon went 2-for-4 and is 5-for-18 in Triple-A. First baseman Zach Vincej drove in both Norfolk runs.

Altoona Curve (Pirates) 5, Bowie Baysox 0

The Baysox lineup barely showed up for this one, picking up just five hits in getting shut out for the 15th time this year. Anderson Feliz and Ryan Ripken each had two hits, including a double apiece, while the rest of the lineup was a combined 1-for-24. Ryan McKenna, the Orioles’ No. 13 prospect, was 0-for-3 with a strikeout. No. 25 prospect Mason McCoy went 1-for-4.

On the plus side, Zac Lowther (No. 10 prospect) delivered another quality start in the losing effort, holding the Curve to three runs in seven innings, giving up seven hits, walking two, and fanning seven. Lowther is carrying a 2.77 ERA in 23 starts, with 131 strikeouts in 130 innings. Could he soon follow Kremer and Bruce Zimmermann up to Norfolk?

Fayetteville Woodpeckers (Astros) 9, Frederick Keys 4

This game was over almost immediately, when the Keys coughed up a seven-spot in the top of the first inning. Starter David Lebron’s night went like this: single, walk, three-run homer, strikeout, walk, walk, and off to the showers. Two inherited runners later scored on a grand slam by Enmanuel Valdez off Tyler Joyner. The Frederick bullpen did a pretty good job — especially Luis Perez, who threw four scoreless innings — but it was too little, too late.

For the Frederick offense, J.C. Escarra and Robbie Thorburn each drove in a pair of runs. Center fielder Cole Billingsley — who started the season in Bowie, went down to Frederick, returned to Bowie, and then was sent back down to Frederick — had three hits out of the leadoff spot and stole a base.

Lakewood BlueClaws (Phillies) 2, Delmarva Shorebirds 1

The Shorebirds and BlueClaws locked horns in a pitcher’s duel, but a Lakewood run off Matt De La Rosa in the eighth provided the margin of defeat for Delmarva. It came after Shorebirds starter Ryan Wilson racked up 11 strikeouts in six strong innings, with a solo home run his only mistake. It was Wilson’s third start this season with at least 10 strikeouts. He’s got 94 in 80.2 innings to go along with a 2.79 ERA.

The Shorebirds, though, were held in check by Lakewood starter Josh Hendrickson and reliever Manuel Silva. No. 14 prospect Adam Hall had two of the club’s three hits, giving him a .310 average and .801 OPS, although he was picked off. Leadoff man JC Encarnacion was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Aberdeen Ironbirds 8, Vermont Lake Monsters (Athletics) 2

Only Aberdeen kept this from being a winless day on the Orioles’ farm. The Ironbirds spread the wealth offensively in this game, with seven hitters collecting a hit, six a run scored, and five an RBI. Top prospect Adley Rutschman went 1-for-4 and scored a run as the DH. Fellow 2019 draft picks Kyle Stowers (competitive balance round), Andrew Daschbach (11th round), and Toby Welk (21st round) did the heavy lifting out of the 3-4-5 spots, combining for a 6-for-11 evening with five runs and four RBIs. Welk doubled and homered, and he’s hitting .353 with a .917 OPS in 46 games. Stowers hit his fifth dinger.

Starting pitcher Kevin Magee delivered a sterling performance, tossing six shutout innings, striking out two and walking none. The 2018 ninth-round lefty has a 2.38 ERA in 12 starts.

Complete box scores from Saturday’s games can be found here.

Sunday’s scheduled games:

• Norfolk at Syracuse, 1:05 PM. Starter: Bruce Zimmermann (0-2, 6.30)
• Bowie at Altoona, 6:00 PM. Starter: Alex Wells (8-3, 2.31)
• Frederick vs. Fayetteville, 1:00 PM. Starter: Cameron Bishop (1-9, 4.80)
• Delmarva at Lakewood, 1:05 PM. Starter: Hector Guance (8-5, 4.15)
• Aberdeen vs. Vermont, 4:05 PM. Starter: Jake Lyons (1-3, 3.27)