BALTIMORE — Adley Rutschman did something he never had in the majors Friday night. A 2-1 curveball from Dean Kremer got by the Orioles’ standout rookie catcher, the first passed ball of Rutschman’s career. He entered the game with the Houston Astros with the second-most innings caught without one this season.
It was perhaps the only miscue of the night for the battery. Kremer worked out of the top of that fourth inning en route to a shutout that marked the Orioles’ third straight dominant pitching outing, while Rutschman homered in the bottom half as part of a day in which he reached base four times in Baltimore’s 6-0 win over the Astros.
The Orioles (79-71) entered Wednesday with only two outings of at least eight innings in manager Brandon Hyde’s four seasons but have since received three straight. Jordan Lyles pitched a one-run complete game in Wednesday’s series finale with the Detroit Tigers, and Kyle Bradish came an out shy of a shutout in Thursday’s series opener with Houston. Kremer got one more out than Bradish and allowed one fewer run than Lyles for the Orioles’ first shutout by a starter since John Means’ no-hitter in May 2021. It marked Baltimore’s 15th team shutout this season, their most since recording 16 in Camden Yards’ inaugural 1992 campaign.
