BALTIMORE (AP) — Dean Kremer allowed three singles in seven scoreless innings and the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1 on Sunday.
Kremer (7-7) struck out six and walked one. He has surrendered just two runs in his last three starts covering 17 2/3 innings and finished seven for the fourth time in 16 starts.
Keegan Akin replaced Kremer to begin the eighth and benefitted when Colton Cowser took a two-run homer away from Danny Jansen in left field.
Brandon Lowe hit his 18th home run off Félix Bautista to start the ninth and extend his hitting streak to 16 games. Bautista struck out Jonathan Aranda who had his 13-game hitting streak snapped — and then fanned Jake Mangum and Curtis Mead to end it.
Ramón Laureano hit the first pitch from Taj Bradley (5-6) in the second for a double and Cowser hit his second pitch for a single and a 1-0 lead.
Bradley retired nine straight before Gary Sánchez and Cedric Mullins had hits to start the fifth. Coby Mayo made it three straight singles for a two-run lead and Ramón Urías added a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0.
Bradley was replaced by Kevin Kelly with two on and one out in the sixth. Sánchez singled to score O'Hearn, and Mullins followed with a sac fly for a 5-0 advantage. Bradley allowed five runs on eight hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Key moment
The Rays had two on with one out in the first, but Kremer worked out of the jam and then allowed a single and a walk through the next six innings.
Key stat
The teams combined for 44 runs in splitting the first two games of the series.
Up next
Tampa Bay will host the Athletics for three games beginning Monday. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher.
Baltimore begins a six-game trip on Monday with the first of three against the Rangers. Neither team has announced a starting pitcher.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
The Associated Press
