Hopefully, a new winning streak has started with a big win at Yankee Stadium.
The Orioles, losers of six of seven and looking as wobbly as they have in the past two seasons, were in need of a jolt offensively. General manager Mike Elias pushed the Colton Cowser button, and the Orioles’ top pick from the 2021 draft made his debut and contributed to a 6-3 victory.
But the real story was the brilliance of right-hander Dean Kremer — seven strong innings in what felt to Orioles fans back home as close to a must-win game. Kremer threw 103 pitches with only one regrettable pitch — a cutter that hung out over the plate and was too fat for the aging bat of Josh Donaldson.
That leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Two batters later and with one out, Yankees utility man Isiah Kiner-Falefa singled to center. Then, shortstop Anthony Volpe hit what should have been a routine 4-6-3 double play. But second baseman Adam Frazier bobbled the ball and lobbed it to shortstop Gunnar Henderson for the force on Kiner-Falefa, only Henderson wouldn’t settle for one out. He heaved a missile over the head of first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, landing Volpe at second base.
That play also sent YES Network cameraman Pete Stendel to the hospital on a stretcher. Henderson’s 87 mph throw hit him in the face. As the emergency personnel attended to him, the umpires paused the game and took both teams off the field for about 15 minutes.
The first batter when action resumed was Yankees backup catcher Kyle Higashioka, who promptly plated Volpe with the Yankees’ second run in the inning with a single to right.
Lately, a 2-0 lead has felt like a 10-0 lead, but the Orioles scored four runs in the sixth, with Cedric Mullins getting the action started with a one-out double. That was followed by an infield hit by Aaron Hicks and a run-scoring single by Cowser for the first RBI of his major league career, with Hicks scampering to third base.
That was followed by a huge Jordan Westburg triple that scooted past inexperienced left fielder Jake Bauers to give the Orioles a 3-2 lead. Westburg scored the Orioles’ fourth run of the inning on a Frazier fielder’s choice. Westburg was able to beat the throw home from Volpe.
Kremer got through the sixth and seventh quietly to turn the ball over to All-Star relievers Yennier Cano and Félix Bautista. Cano gave up a homer to Volpe to lead off the eighth before pinch-hitter Billy McKinney reached on an infield single. Then, all of the TV viewers in Birdland thought first baseman Anthony Rizzo had hit a two-run home run to put the Yankees back in the lead, but when the camera panned back a bit, we collectively exhaled as it was a routine fly out to right fielder Anthony Santander.
From that point on, Cano and Bautista got the last five outs of the game.
But with so much to talk about Cowser, let’s not miss the really big story — that on a team in almost desperate need of a shutdown starter, we may have caught a glimpse of one. At least for one night, Dean Kremer put on the big boy pants.
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