DENVER — Orioles manager Brandon Hyde and head athletic trainer Brian Ebel immediately rushed to the field in the fourth inning Saturday night.
They’ve been through this a time or dozen this season. They understood the urgency as Dean Kremer was hit in the forearm with a 103.1 mph comebacker. Kremer winced as he showed Hyde and Ebel the baseball-size welt that immediately formed on his forearm.
Kremer was removed from the game without even attempting a warm-up pitch. X-rays were negative for a fracture, and he was diagnosed with a contusion. He will be evaluated again Sunday, and it’s not known if he will need a stint on the injured list as the Orioles need to wait to see how the swelling goes down.
A few innings later, Hyde and Ebel sprinted onto the field again. Ramón Urías — who had already been clipped in the nose by a pitch in the game — rolled his right ankle defending a stolen base attempt. He fell to the ground in pain but walked off the field on his own. He was on crutches after the game and was diagnosed with a sprained ankle, but he too will be evaluated further Sunday.
Two more injuries added to what has seemed like a never-ending scroll this season. This team has been about as unlucky as can be in this department, and its losing record in July and August has reflected that.
“It sucks,” Ryan O’Hearn said. “I don’t want to see Dean get smoked by a line drive or Urías hurt his [ankle] or any of that. It’s not football, but injuries happen in this game, obviously, over the course of the season. A lot of crazy things happen on a baseball field and it’s just kind of a freak thing, those two plays, and we hope those guys are going to be back sooner rather than later.”
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The Orioles fell 7-5 to the Rockies. They are still, despite the potential addition of two more players to the injured list, in the hunt as the calendar turns to September, the Orioles 1.5 games back in the American League East.
After Kremer was hit, Keegan Akin replaced him. Coming in as an injury replacement is difficult — the pitcher has limited notice to begin warming up and is often not able to do his full routine before entering the game. Akin wasn’t his sharpest, allowing two runs to come in to increase the deficit to 5-2.
The Orioles tied the game half an inning later. Eloy Jiménez homered for the first time with the Orioles. Then Urías was hit by a pitch — but remained in the game — Jackson Holliday singled and Adley Rutschman walked to load the bases. That set up O’Hearn, who hit a single to send in Urías and Holliday.
The game remained tied through the eighth, even as Emmanuel Rivera came in to replace Urías. But then Craig Kimbrel — no longer a closer but being granted a high-leverage inning — came in for the eighth. He let in two runs, and the Rockies took the game from there.
“We fought back,” Hyde said. “Love to see us try to push some more runs against their bullpen there late in the game. ... We just had a tough eighth inning.”
There is at least some relief coming Sunday. Pitcher Zach Eflin will be activated to start the series finale, and Coby Mayo, who can play third base, is expected to be called up as part of the Sept. 1 roster expansions.
That gives them some help but still leaves them without starters Grayson Rodriguez, John Means, Tyler Wells, Kyle Bradish — and now potentially Kremer. Jordan Westburg and Ryan Mountcastle are on the injured list, too, and the potential of losing Urías, even for a few days, would be another blow to their infield. He’s played third base almost every day since Westburg fractured his hand, hitting .268 with five home runs in 26 games.
“Ramón has been, I don’t want to say carrying us, but close to it over the last week or so, and then maybe even more going back,” O’Hearn said. “But, yeah, hopefully it’s nothing serious, and we get him back soon. We get Westy back. We’ll get Mounty back. Zach is coming back tomorrow. We have reinforcements on the way at some point, and I think that, in the meantime, we got to find a way to scratch and win games. ... We got a chance to win the series tomorrow, and that’s the goal. Show up tomorrow, win a game, win the series, take some momentum going back home and get hot in September, have some guys come back, and that’s the plan. That’s all you can do.”
