Baltimore Orioles Lose Two In Rays Double Header

As some teams have already clinched 2020 playoff spots, the Baltimore Orioles are showing that they aren’t quite ready to take one themselves.

The Baltimore Orioles lost two on Thursday to the AL East leading Rays, who are in their own fight to stay at the top.

After losing 1-3 and 6-10, the Orioles showed that they still are a work-in-progress.

And, O’s fans, that’s perfectly okay.

The Orioles have done a damn good job this season, defying expectation. So, at this point in the season, sit back, enjoy the call ups, and enjoy the moments.

In the first game, Dean Kremer got into a pitching duel against Cy-Young winner Blake Snell. While Snell maintained his veteran-presence on the mound facing the minimum in most of his innings, Kremer went toe-to-toe with him, giving up only one run in three hits. Snell gave up one run in two.

Orioles fans, Kremer is something special.

Along with Kremer, Ryan Mountcastle showed that rookies don’t fear the veterans. He put up two solid hits on the night. In fact, he was the only player two get on base twice against the tough-as-nails Rays pitching. Unfortunately, the O’s couldn’t put together much else and lost it in the seventh after tying it in the sixth.

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In the second game, the Rays became the home team and the pitching duel ended. This game had 16 runs as both teams’ bats came alive. The highlight of this game was the debut of Baltimore native Bruce Zimmermann. The 25-year-old pitcher went four innings and gave up five runs. While you might be shaking your head at that line, the Rays pitcher 27-year-old Trevor Richards went 3.1 innings and gave up four runs. It was one of those games where the ball was flying.

Nearly all of the Orioles got in on the hitting. Cedric Mullins cemented his lead-off spot going 2-4. Chance Sisco also had two hits on the evening.

The highlights came from Rio Ruiz and Hanser Alberto who had their ninth and third home runs for the season. Both were off of Richards and Ruiz earned an extra RBI with Sisco on base.

The Orioles and Rays face off again on Friday night. Alex Cobb gets a chance to redeem himself after his poor showing against the Yankees. He faces Tyler Glasnow. The first pitch is at 7:35 PM.