Orioles' Dean Kremer beats the heat -- and the White Sox -- to stop skid

Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun on Jul 1, 2026

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — When Dean Kremer arrived back in Baltimore on Monday, his manager was quick to compliment his pitcher.

“It’s good to see Dean. He has a great tan,” Craig Albernaz said with a smile.

Perhaps the time Kremer spent in the Florida heat while rehabilitating his injured quadriceps paid off Wednesday afternoon. With the temperature in Baltimore at nearly 100 degrees, Kremer was as cool as the ice stations set up across Camden Yards to lead the Orioles to a much-needed 6-1 win over the White Sox to end Baltimore’s four-game losing streak.

Kremer gave up a leadoff homer on the second pitch of the game but quickly settled in to toss six innings of one-run ball. The right-hander’s steadiness spread across the rest of the dugout, as the bats finally broke out of their slump with four runs in the fifth inning after being no-hit through four frames by White Sox left-hander Noah Schultz.

Tyler O’Neill started the offensive outburst with a solo homer — his first RBI since May 27 and first long ball since May 16 — that was followed by an Adley Rutschman RBI single, a Taylor Ward sacrifice fly and Gunnar Henderson scoring on a wild pitch. An inning later, Blaze Alexander continued his two-month tear with an RBI triple, and Leody Taveras tacked on another run in the eighth with a rare right-handed homer.

The bullpen, which has been a concern in recent weeks, was lights out after Albernaz pulled Kremer at nine pitches, presumably because of the heat. Tyler Wells tossed two scoreless frames to continue his strong performance since the start of June, and Andrew Kittredge fired a clean ninth after Ryan Helsley didn’t enter after warming up. It’s unclear why the closer didn’t come into the game.

Kremer’s return comes one day after rookie Trey Gibson, the Orioles’ No. 9 starting pitcher who was thrust into the rotation because of injuries, was clobbered for eight runs in 2 2/3 innings Tuesday. That 9-3 defeat was one of the worst of the season, as fans booed the local nine amid the skid.

The rotation has been far from the Orioles’ biggest issue recently. In fact, since mid-May, Baltimore has sported one of the top units in baseball. With Kremer back, it could only get stronger — perhaps the leading reason why there could be a glimmer of hope that the Orioles can climb out of the hole in which they dug themselves.

“Yeah, extremely confident,” Albernaz said pregame about his rotation. “I love having our guys, I enjoy giving them the ball every five days, watch them do their thing. They all have made great strides and [they’re] consistently getting better. For us, that’s going to be, we have to lean on these five guys moving forward. It’s great to have Dean back to kind of set that foundation for us.”

Baltimore is 40-48 ahead of Thursday’s day off and this weekend’s road series against the Cincinnati Reds. Wednesday’s win marks the club’s first since president of baseball operations Mike Elias said he plans on “going for it” at the trade deadline despite the club’s below-.500 record. The Orioles lost four straight after Elias’ comment, but Kremer helped stop that slid. The Orioles are 4 1/2 games back of the last wild-card spot in the American League.