Orioles continue their slide with sloppy 9-4 loss to Padres

BALTIMORE—The Orioles continued to flounder on Saturday. Two key errors led to three Padres runs,  The result was a 9-4 loss to San Diego Padres, the Orioles’ third straight and 10^th in 14 games before 30,008 disappointed fans at Camden Yards.

Oriole starter Dean Kremer allowed four runs, but three were unearned. San Diego starter Michael King, who often fooled the Orioles when he was with the New York Yankees, allowed just two runs on two hits in 6 1/3 innings.

The Orioles (61-43) should have been out of the second inning, but third baseman Ramón Urías was charged with an error on a two-out popup that allowed Jackson Merrill and David Peralta to score. Urías and shortstop Gunnar Henderson converged on Kyle Higashioka’s popup and it dropped out of Urías’ glove.

Xander Bogaerts doubled past Urías, who was slow to react to the ball, to score Jurickson Profar in the third to give the Padres a 3-0 lead.

In the fourth, Henderson threw a relay throw to first over the glove of first baseman Ryan O’Hearn, his third error in as many games. It allowed Higashioka to score, putting San Diego up, 4-0.

Kremer (4-7) tried his best to overcome the shoddy defense, and he retired his final seven batters. Kremer allowed four runs but just one earned on seven hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked one. Even the earned run might have been prevented if Urias had reacted more quickly to Bogaerts’ hit.

San Diego (57-50), which won its seventh straight, scored four runs against Cole Irvin in the seventh. Former Oriole Manny Machado hit a three-run home run, his 14^th, and Merrill’s sacrifice fly scored Bogaerts, who tripled. Machado now has 1,000 career RBIs.

King (9-6) gave up singles to Urías with two outs in the third, and Heston Kjerstad with one out in the seventh, his final batter. After Stephen Kolek relieved King, Cedric Mullins hit a two-run double, and the Orioles trailed, 8-2. Mullins hit a two-run home run, his 11th, in the ninth.