Dean Kremer logged a career-best 7 2/3 innings while Anthony Santander and Austin Hays both homered in the third inning as the visiting Baltimore Orioles claimed a series-clinching 3-1 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday.
Kremer (6-4) dominated throughout while recording his second consecutive start in which he allowed just one run. He was perfect through three innings and faced the minimum through six. He induced a double-play grounder off the bat of Astros first baseman Yuli Gurriel that erased Jose Altuve after Altuve opened the fourth with a single to center field.
It wasn’t until Altuve stroked a double to left leading off the seventh that the Astros finally broke through against Kremer.
Altuve subsequently scored when Yordan Alvarez delivered an RBI single that sliced the Baltimore lead to two runs, but Kremer followed by getting Alex Bregman to ground into an inning-ending double play.
After retiring Kyle Tucker and Christian Vazquez to open the eighth inning, Kremer departed when Trey Mancini ripped a two-out single to center.
Kremer had twice worked seven innings, doing so last on Aug. 16. He allowed four hits, did not walk a batter and recorded three strikeouts on Saturday.
Santander and Hays struck against Astros right-hander Jose Urquidy (12-5), who allowed four hits, three runs and three walks while fanning five over five innings.
Santander followed a one-out double by Adley Rutschman with his 23rd home run, a 394-foot blast to right field for a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, Hays delivered his 15th homer by driving an 0-1 slider out to left.
Urquidy had produced quality starts in 11 of his previous 12 outings. It marked the second time in that span that he failed to log at least six innings.
Orioles closer Felix Bautista fanned David Hensley to close the eighth inning and retired the side in order in the ninth to notch his 10th save. Baltimore played its seventh consecutive game decided by two runs or fewer, improving to 5-2 in those contests.
–Field Level Media
