Corbin Carroll flew out of the batter’s box, and his speed may have caught Gunnar Henderson unaware. It was a chopper up the middle that Henderson fielded, and while he whipped a throw to first, Carroll was safe.
Henderson has wowed with his defense all year. As the primary shortstop for the first time, Henderson has received commendations from manager Brandon Hyde for his internal clock — to know the situation, to not rush a play. This was a rare instance when Henderson could have used more urgency.
The infield single prolonged a difficult sixth inning for the Orioles that resulted in six runs for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The breakthrough all came with two outs, chasing right-hander Dean Kremer from a start that got away from him. And, when left-hander Cionel Pérez entered, there was no respite.
When it rained, it poured — literally and figuratively. The Diamondbacks avoided a sweep at Camden Yards that included a 33-minute rain delay with a 9-2 win over the Orioles on Sunday.
“We didn’t play our best baseball today, just all around,” Hyde said. “It was kind of sloppy for us defensively. It was just kind of one of those games for us.”
Still, this was an atypically lopsided loss. Baltimore has won seven of its last nine games, and it’s just the fourth time this season the Orioles have lost by more than three runs.
The complexion of Kremer’s outing muddied as he went on. He struck out five of the first nine batters he faced in three perfect innings and finished with 10 strikeouts, matching his career high. Then he ran into varying degrees of trouble in the third, fifth and sixth innings.
At first, it was a gem marred only by a pair of errors — one of which was Kremer’s own, when he threw a pickoff attempt off the back of Carroll. That brought home one unearned run. Another two scored in the fourth after Ramón Urías’ bases-loaded throw home dragged catcher James McCann’s foot off the plate, allowing for a subsequent sacrifice fly.
But the real damage occurred in the sixth, with the floodgates opening on Kremer and Pérez with two outs. Arizona chased Kremer after Jake McCarthy lined a two-run homer down the right field line and Kremer issued a fourth walk, and Pérez struggled to record the final out of the frame.
Pérez walked Tucker Barnhart, and while Carroll chopped a grounder up the middle, he beat out Henderson’s throw to first. With bases loaded, then, Ketel Marte’s RBI single placed a third earned run on Kremer’s line. And Randal Grichuk’s two-run double was the final piece of the Diamondbacks’ six-run inning.
“I was a little bit more wild in that second time through [the order],” Kremer said. “But in terms of damage, I mean, McCarthy put a good swing on a good pitch and that was about it.”
It left Baltimore’s chances slim. Jordan Westburg drove an RBI double off right-hander Zac Gallen in the fifth — his fourth straight game with a two-bagger. Later, Adley Rutschman lifted his sixth homer of the season to slightly narrow the deficit.
But the sixth inning sunk the Orioles, leaving the three scoreless innings of relief from Albert Suárez — before and after the delay — as the brightest part of Sunday’s loss. His workload allowed rest for a bullpen that was used heavily in Saturday’s extra-innings win.
“That was the highlight of the game for me,” Hyde said. “We’ve had to use quite a few guys. Two extra-inning games as of late. For Albert to do what he did there, that was a huge pickup.”
